Cowboy Bebop: The Second Session
by Kouji Tamino
Summary: The year is 2081. Edward and Jet gain a new crew member in the form of a cocky, egotistical, womanizing yet whiny bounty hunter and begin a whole set of misadventures. But once again, the past begins to catch up to them... Session 9 is up.
1. Session 1: Earth Girls Are Easy

Yes, yet another "Edward all grown up" series. I've had this idea in mind for quite some time, but it just wouldn't stop bothering me. So now, I write this little series. Don't know how long it's going to be, don't know where it's going to go. All I know is that I need to get this whole thing out of my system NOW, or I will go absolutely crazy. So with that, let's begin.

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Cowboy Bebop: The Second Session

It was the Summer of 2081, and the night was young. The local Martian bar was bustling. It was also full of sorts of scum that you just didn't want to mess with. Men and woman who would kill you if they were on one side of room and you looked in their general direction, they would dismember you. Yeah, they were those kind of people. And is exactly why it is the perfect place to spot a criminal with a bounty on their head. And that was why such a good looking guy like myself was in such a dump. My name is Dexter Warren. But my friends call me Dex. I'm the one with the blonde hair that's slicked back and the sharp green eyes, in case you couldn't tell. Check out those awesome bangs hanging in the front. I'm also dressed in the black high collar jacket that zips up halfway, matching jeans and suede shoes. Why is such a good looking guy like me in such a lowly place like this? I'll tell you why… I'm a cowboy. And not just any cowboy. I'm the best, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I've never lost a bounty head. Ever. And right now, I was after a man named Seth Sosilla. The dude had stolen a truckload of cocaine-filled teddy bears that had recently been confiscated by police. Crazy sick bastard. Anyway, he was worth about 8 million woolongs, so there was no way that I was going to let him get away.

As I searched crowd in the dirty looking bar for my man, wearing my stylish shades of course, a vision of beauty caught my eye. She was absolutely gorgeous. Bronze skin, a full head of short shoulder length hair that slightly curled upwards at the bottom, almost cat-like yellow eyes. Did I mention she was a redhead? I really got a thing for redheads. She was dressed in a small white tube top that showed off her cute flat abs and bellybutton, black cut-off jean short shorts that nicely accentuated her ass, black boots, and white thigh high stockings. Oh yes. HELL YES. A Sexy, Sexy tomboy. Another nice touch were the two earring in the top portion of her left ear and the pink lipstick. Oh, and her cup size had to be a C at LEAST. Suddenly, we met eyes. She must have noticed that I was looking at her, because she winked at me. Score. I beckoned her over, surprised that things were moving along so quickly. I knew that I should be getting the job done first, but this was just too good to pass up!

…I would soon regret that choice.

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**Session 1: **_Earth Girls Are Easy_

Dex patted the seat next to him. "Come sit right here, babe… Where're you from?" he asked, putting a hand on his leg. '_This chick is in the bag…_' He thought to himself with a smirk. '_No woman can resist me!_'

Politely removing his hand from her leg and resisting the old habit of biting people that made her upset, she smiled. "The name is Françoise, and I'm from Earth…" she replied, using her real name to prevent suspicions. She smiled at him, crossing her legs. "What's your name, handsome?" she asked back, using any seductive terms or actions that she could remember from her only female role model from her childhood to get what she needed from this guy. He was way too attractive to be a normal visitor of this place. He had to know something about Sean Sosilla.

"The name is Dex…" the man said as he crossed his arms with a cocky look on his face. "And what's a pretty thing like yourself doing in a place like this?"

'_Bleh, what cheesy pick-up lines!_' Françoise thought to herself, suppressing a giggle. '_This guy is what Faye-Faye would call a "bonafide loser!" If he think he can get into anyone's pants that way, he is sorely mistaken!_' "Well, I'm just looking for a little bear… Know where I can find one?"

"…You're a cowboy too, aren't you?" Dex asked, staring at her. "Or should I say 'cowgirl'?"

"Drats, I've been found out." Françoise said with a sultry smile.

"Damn, you were hot too…" Dex replied in disappointment. "Well, cute girl or not, Sosilla is mine…"

"Fine then." Françoise stood up, walking away. "I guess it's every man, or woman, for himself then… Good luck!" she said with another wink.

"You too, gorgeous." the male bounty hunter stood up as well, walking around the bar and surveying the area. "Damn, he's got to be around here somewhere…"

"I can't let that pervy guy get to **my** bounty head…" our favorite crazy hacker muttered to herself. "Jet-person will kill me if I screw this one up!"

At around the same time, they turned to see a guy that looked exactly like the description that the reports gave. He was very scrawny looking, eyebrow-less, with short and unkempt rust-red/brown hair, with a bit of a hump on his back, wearing a grimy and grease stained olive green t-shirt, old jeans, and sandals. In addition to having horrible fashion sense, the fool hadn't even made any sort of attempt to disguise himself. Both cowboys pointed their guns at him. Sosilla's narrow, blood shot eyes widened in surprise. "Freeze, Sosilla!" they both shouted in unison. Dex had taken his gun from a holster at his side, while Françoise pulled a smaller one out that was hidden in the thick sole of her boot. "You're coming with-- Huh? What the hell do you think you're doing? He's mine!" they asked as they realized that they had both spotted him at the same time.

The obviously high bounty head took this opportunity to run. "Damn it! He got away!" Françoise screamed, starting to run after him. "This is your fault, pervy man!"

"Pervy man?" Dex asked, running right next to her and also hot on the bounty head's tail. "What kind of insult is that!" He stared in shock and horror as the woman suddenly jumped to the ground, crawled on all fours, and bit the bounty head on the leg. After tripping Sosilla up, she then grabbed him and pinned him to the ground. Everyone in the seedy bar watched this go on in interest. "H-hey! That's my bounty head!" Dex screamed, losing his cool and pouting.

"Aww, don't be such a crybaby!" Françoise shouted, looking towards him. "If it means that much to you, we can split the money! But I get 66, 'cuz I'm sharing with a friend!" Currently distracted, Sosilla took yet another opportunity to escape, this time managing to slip from Françoise's grasp and elbowing her in the nose as she turned back around. She yelped in pain as she let go of Sosilla, grabbing her nose in pain.

"Are you okay?" Dex asked, not being able to turn down a woman in need. He gasped as she stood up, holding her nose as blood ran through her fingers.

"I'm fine! What the hell are you thinking? Go ahead and catch Sosilla!" the female bounty hunter screamed, pointing as their man left the bar.

'_What a woman!_' Dex thought to himself. '_She turns me on more and more! Although the animalistic tendencies I could do without…_' He set his thoughts back to the task at hand. "R-right! Don't worry, I'll be right back with our bounty!" he shouted, running out of the bar after the high teddy bear thief. Dex's eyes widened as he saw the other man sitting in **his** ship. He shook his head, becoming delirious as the gray-blue mini-fighter jet looking ship began to fly off. "No! Not my King! Anything but that!" He screamed as the ship began to take off. "Nooo…"

"Well, there he goes! Bye bye…" Françoise said wistfully as she watched the ship fly off.

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM?" Dex asked, basically hyperventilating at this point. He groaned, falling to his knees. "Not only have I lost a bounty for the first time ever, but I lost my kick-ass ship as well… And on top of that, the hot chick turns out to be a complete space case…" He raised an eyebrow as his temporary partner put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't you worry, pervy-man Dex…" Françoise said with a huge smile. "We'll catch him! All we need is back-up!" Pulling a head set out of her pocket, she turned it on. "Yo, Jet-person? Edward needs a lift. Oh yeah, Edward has a new friend with her, too…"

"…Who the hell is Edward?" Dex asked, giving her an odd face. This was getting mighty annoying and confusing.

The infamous Radical Edward giggled, tilting her head. "Edward is Edward, silly!" As the Bebop flew over from the distance and began to land, she smiled again. "Radical Edward, Jet-person, and the Bebop are ready to serve you!"

"Radical… Edward?" Dex said slowly, not believing what happening. "The famous hacker?"

-----

"Well, now isn't this interesting?" Jet crossed his arms, laughing. After picking up Ed and Dex, he chased after Sosilla into space with the Bebop. "The almost legendary Dex Warren is just a whiny kid…"

Dex sat on the sofa with his hands behind his head, having regained his composure. "Hey I'm not whiny, I'm just… I just lose my cool sometimes, okay? What's it to you, old man?"

"Old man!" Jet looked pretty much the same, but had a few gray hairs as middle age took it's toll. A few wrinkles made their home on his face as well. "Sure I'm 46, but still…"

"Damn, only that old?" Dex shook his head in sympathy. "Time has not been kind to you…" Looking around the ship, he raised an eyebrow. "Um, why are we just sitting here? The dude is right in front of us… And where's Edward?"

"Ed's warming up her ship, the Tomato II…" Jet explained. "We'll never catch up to Sosilla at the rate we're going…"

-----

In the hangar, Edward was preparing to launch in the Tomato II. The Tomato II, the name coming from 'second Tomato' and also a tribute to Spike's 'Swordfish II', was a red and yellow souped-up old amusement park ride car shaped like a plane that Ed had modified and had Jet turn into a full fledged ship for her once she rejoined the Bebop. The wings were equipped with two sets of machine guns and quick charge lasers that while not as powerful as the Swordfish II's, could still do some damage. The front had a retractable blade for some last resort enemy ramming action. And what would a Tomato be without a hacking program? The Tomato II's computer had a powerful program that could get into other ships computer's with ease. Radical Edward giggled happily as Jet gave her the okay to launch. "Okily dokily! Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV, launching!" The ship slowly ascended from the hangar, the thrusters sending it forward at near breakneck speed. She set her sights on Dex's ship the King, knowing that 8 million woolongs was inside. She was _not _about to let him get away…

-----

Watching from inside the Bebop as Ed chased down Sosilla, Dex rubbed his temples. "Please oh please, don't let her hurt my King…"

"Quit your whining, or I'll shove you into an airlock…" Jet muttered in an annoyed tone, half serious and half joking. "Ed knows what she's doing, leave her alone…"

-----

Ed flew past Sosilla, waving cheerfully as she looked and smiled at him. "Hey there, Mr. Bounty Head!" she shouted over the communications. "Could you please do me a favor and turn yourself in? It would make me oh so happy!"

"No way!" Sosilla screamed, speeding the ship he was piloting up a bit. "I already lost all my cocaine! Now I'm going to sell this damn ship! It has to be worth _something_!"

"Like hell you are!" Dex screamed, almost crashing through the window in rage. "Gimme back my ship, bastard!"

"I see…" Ed suddenly grinned, literally punching a big red button on the console. "Time for Edward to play rough!" The blade began to reveal itself from the front of her ship, glistening as it was fully unsheathed. Her eyes becoming even more feline-like, she snarled as she brought the Tomato II to full speed. "Gryaaaah!"

"NNNNNOOOOOO!" Dex and Sosilla screamed simultaneously, as Ed flew in closer and closer…

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"Oh my god!" Dex screamed, falling to his knees and crying his eyes out as he stared at his ruined vehicle. Luckily, it hadn't exploded, but it had a huge gaping hole in it. The Tomato II's nose was completely crushed in, and the blade broke off completely. In fact, it was still stuck in the King. "Ed, not only did you lose the bounty, but you completely trashed King…"

"Ed, I knew it would happen eventually, but you finally did it…" Jet muttered to himself, sighing. "You up and made a grown man weep like a baby…"

"Whoops, guess Ed over did it!" the hacker laughed heartily. "Too bad Sosilla used the eject seat at the last second! Oh well, easy come, easy go!"

"Ed, this is _not _something to take lightly…" Dex growled, clenching his fist angrily. "How are you going to repay me, HUH?"

"Oh quit whining…" Jet said gruffly. "This nothing compared to what Spike and Faye did to their shit… It will take me a while, but both the King and Tomato II should be up and working again, easy… But it looks like you're gonna have to stay here on the Bebop for now."

"Yay! Dex-person is staying!" Ed shouted happily, getting on her knees as well and hugging him around the neck.

"…What the hell have I brought on?" Dex asked himself, whimpering miserably. "I'm never hitting on a hot chick in a bar ever again…"

****

Welcome to the Family, Newcomer…


	2. Session 2: Bad Dog, No Biscuit

And I'm back. Sorry for the delay, I'm busy with school plus I'm writing several other series at the same time. Hopefully I can get the next chapter up a lot faster than it took to get this one up.

-Kouji Tamino

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Cowboy Bebop: The Second Session

A few days after that horribly screwed up attempt at catching Sosilla, Dex sat quietly on a familiar looking sofa. "Why me? Why did I have to end up wandering aimlessly with a misfit pair of bounty hunters?" He sighed as a certain 'free spirited' woman stared at him with a grin on her face. "Oh, it's _you_. Y'know, I had a perfect record of catching bounty heads before I met you… I think running into you was a curse for screwing around with so many beautiful woman's hearts…"

"You're a playboy?" Ed asked, glaring at him. She had shed her boots and socks in favor of going around in bare feet once again. "Jet-person told me to stay away from people like you…"

"That's good advice…" Dex said, grinning. "Trust me Edward, I'm bad news…"

"Jet says you're actually a big ol' softy!" she replied cheerfully, giggling.

"Shut up!" he snapped, sitting up. "It's your damn fault I lost the bounty! You ruined my spotless record!"

"Aww, is Dex-person still mad at Edward for getting carried away last time?" the woman whined, pouting.

Her pathetic expression almost got to him, but he held his ground. "I sure am!" He turned around so he wouldn't have to face her. "Now stay the hell away from me."

"Hey, leave Edward alone." Jet said in her defense. "Believe it or not, her… unorthodox methods can bring in some big bounties." Turning to the girl, he smiled. "C'mon Ed, let's leave Mr. Emo to lie in his own angst…"

"I am _not_ being Emo, you old man!" Dex screamed, standing up in his seat. He sighed as he realized that both of them had left the room. He growled, kicking Ed's Tomato in anger. He raised an eyebrow as a bounty head showed up on the screen. "Hello, what's this?" He read the description in interest. The man in question was a bit slim in girth, middle aged, with thin blonde hair and a lazy look in his ice blue eyes. Wearing a navy blue suit, his hair was short and in a neatly trimmed bowl cut. Resting on his face were a pair of round glasses. "Hmm, let's see… 'Zed Powers…' Ew, what a weird name… Think I'll just call him Zed. 'Former Prime Minister of Ganymede. Wanted for kidnapping an ambassador from Titan. Reward of $95 million woolongs. Last seen on Calisto.' So, the psycho bitch and the old geezer were holding out on me, huh?" Grinning evilly, he began to sneak his way towards the hangar. "Well I'll fix them… I'll go out and catch that bounty by myself and ditch them!"

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**Session 2: **_Bad Dog, No Biscuit._

"WHAT?" Jet screamed in disbelief. "He up and left? **And** he left with **my** Hammerhead?"

Ed nodded, seemingly oblivious to the seriousness of the situation. On the contrary, she knew just what was going on. She just had her own way of dealing with it. "Yep, yep! Dex-person done flew the coop! Probably to catch the big bounty on my Tomato!" she replied, picking up her laptop and looking at the screen.

"…I'm gonna kill the bastard." Jet said calmly. "Unappreciative little-- Wait, how big is this bounty?" Jet asked, leaning in to see for himself. His eyes widened. "Damn. Ed, I need you to go down to Calisto, get this bounty, beat the shit out of that asshole Dex, and bring him back here for me, okay?"

"But Edward's ship is still broken…" Ed whined, slumping sadly.

"Yours was in the best condition, though." Jet explained, smirking. "It's weapons are still offline, but it should be flyable… Just don't crash it too much, okay?"

"Yay!" she cheered, hopping on the man's back and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Thanks, Jet-person!"

"That's nice, Ed but…" Jet sputtered out, gasping for air. "You're choking me!"

-----

Radical Edward sped across the inky depths of space, her superior speed putting her right behind Dex and the Hammerhead. She knew not to alert him of her presence, so she slowed down just enough to tail him. "I've got you now…" She was dressed in a light blue long coat, snow boots and earmuffs. Jet had warned her about the cold and dangerous people lurking there. She had prepared herself accordingly. "You're a bad, bad boy, Dex…"

-----

As Dex arrived on Calisto, he shivered. He was in his plain old normal clothes. "Damn, should have checked to see if there was any winter clothing…" In his excitement, he had completely forgotten about the cold weather. Rubbing his arms furiously for warmth, he growled. "Well, I won't accomplish much by just standing here… I'd better see if I can get any info on Zed…" He looked around starting to walk around town as he searched for a place where he could get people to talk.

"Why, hello there!" a brunette drag queen shouted, waving and wearing feminine winter wear. "Looking for a good time, cutie?"

"_Not_ with _you…_" the man shuddered, starting to walk faster. After a while, he happened upon a store. He walked in, seeing if he could find some cheap winter clothes, when a certain red head began to tail him from behind…

"Ed found you…" Edward whispered, giggling to herself.

-----

As Dex looked around for a good clothes deal, he suddenly got the feeling of someone peeking at him from a hiding place. He had a pretty good hunch about who it was, too… "Ed, I know you're stalking me." he said in a deadpan voice, turning to her. She was hiding in a clothes rack. "How long have you been following me, anyway?"

"Since the beginning!" She replied, jumping out pouncing on him. "Edward caught you! Now give up!"

Dex chuckled to himself softly for a moment. It soon grew into a full out laugh. He smirked evilly at her. "No way. You already screwed up my last bounty hunt, and this one is WAY too big for me to let you fudged it up again!" He struggled to get up, but was quite surprised to find that he couldn't budge her at all. "God damn, Ed… Just how much do you weigh?" This question led to him getting a punch in the nose. "OW! What the hell?"

"Never ask a lady about her weight…" Ed replied, a proud expression on her face. "Faye-Faye told me that!"

"…Who is this 'Faye-Faye' you keep talking about?" Dex asked, unable to go anywhere anyway. He might as well learn more about this whole weird situation.

Ed suddenly got a wistful look on her face. "Faye-Faye… was my idol. She told me everything I know… How to not let men take advantage of me, how to use my body to get what I want without degrading myself, how to use a gun, how to be a good cowgirl…" She sighed, looking away. "I miss her so much…" she said softly, temporarily losing her usual speech patterns.

"May I ask…" Dex gulped, getting a lump in his throat. "…what happened to her?"

The woman's expression became more pained. "About 5 years ago, she and Jet-person had a fight about Spike-person. A few days later, she up and left. We never saw her again."

"Who's this Spike?" Dex asked, quite interested now. And while he would never admit it out loud, this new side of Edward was… quite cute.

"Ed would rather not talk about it…" she replied softly. Just thinking about that night was tearing her up inside. To talk about what had actually happened to Spike… The less she spoke of it, the better.

Dex nodded, understanding her reply. "That's okay… You don't have to talk about it of you don't want to." He stared at her for a moment. "Now, um… Could you please get off of me?"

"…Promise you won't run away?" Edward asked, giving him a pleading look. To tell the truth, this position was getting pretty uncomfortable for her as well. But still, she couldn't have this guy running around and going off with the bounty.

"…I promise." Dex said under his breath, tired of being on the floor. He sighed in relief as she stood up. "Thanks…" He suddenly got a devious look in his eyes, grinning. "Seeya!" he shouted, running out of the store quickly. To his luck, there was a sudden crowd of people that he disappeared in.

By the time Ed had made it outside, he had disappeared into the crowd of people. "Damn…" After making her way out of the crowd, Ed closed her eyes, taking out her hidden gun and holding it up. "Don't make Edward do this, Dex…"

-----

Meanwhile, in an old shack in an unknown location, Zed was sitting in a chair. Dressed in a light blue dress shirt, navy blue slacks, a red tie, and black shoes. His now unkempt hair was now down to his shoulders, and he was sporting a goatee. Sweat stains were apparent under his arms, and his glasses were bent. Lazily swinging his gun around, he stared at his kidnapping victim through his bloodshot eyes, bags under them. "…God damn it, this is so boring…"

"Wh-what are you going to do to me?" the frightened ambassador, Fredrick Rhodes, asked. He was a portly man, dressed in a brown suit, matching shoes, and balding with gray hair. He was tied up to another chair, sweating profusely. He found that he couldn't keep his body from shaking. He had come to Ganymede hoping to make negotiations to keep a war from breaking out, but here he was in the middle of a kidnapping! What was going to happen to him? Would he make it out of this alive or not? Questions like this and more were spinning around in his head. He swallowed, gaining a bit more courage to ask his kidnapper another question. "…And why are you doing this?"

Zed's left eyebrow twitched. He glared at the older man, annoyed at his cowardice. "…Do you know who I am?" he asked his own question, chuckling as he got a reaction from spinning the gun on his finger. "Don't worry, the safety is on… I'm not stupid. Anyway, I'll tell you who I am. I used to be the Prime Minister of Ganymede. Under my term, I brought that entire planet out of an economic slump. And how do they repay me? They kick me out of power. Sure, the methods I used to get the people back on their feet were a bit 'unethical' in some peoples eyes, but it was a very desperate situation! Ungrateful bastards." Punching the wall, he grit his teeth angrily before smiling at Rhodes. "As for what I plan to do to you… I'll kill you, and send the video back to Titan. The death of an ambassador for peace will spark a war and the planet of Ganymede will go to Hell once again!"

Fredrick's eyes widened in horror. "Y-you're insane! You'll be killed once they find you!" This man couldn't be serious about going through with this crazy plan, could he? This was really bad.

"Maybe I will get killed, maybe I won't…" Zed said in a soft, yet menacing voice. "As long as Ganymede is dragged down with me, I couldn't really give a damn…" He stood up from his chair, putting the gun in it's holster, and walked over to the door.

"Where are you going?" Frederick asked his captor. He shivered as the cold air rushed in.

"I'm going to go relax…" he replied, turning to face him. "This might be my last day alive, remember?"

-----

As Zed walked into the bar, he took a seat on a free stool. "Bartender, get me a Bloody Mary." Glancing over, he raised an eyebrow in interest as a gorgeous looking tanned woman with red hair winked at him. "Well hello there. You like older men?"

"Oh yes…" Ed said in a sultry voice. She had decided to temporarily forget about Dex and find Zed before he did. "Males my own age are sooo immature." She leaned over and whispered in his ear. "I want a _real _man, not a little boy…"

Zed's excitement rose. "Well I'm here, aren't I?" He moved his eyebrows up and down in a suggestive manner. "How about I buy you a couple drinks and then I teach you what it means to be a real woman? What's your name, by the way?"

"Oh would you really?" she said in reply to his offer, seductively licking her lips. "My name is Françoise…"

"Mm, that's a nice name…" Zed replied in compliment. "So, um… What do you like to drink?"

'Françoise' smiled, crossing her legs. "Eh, I'll just take a margarita. Make it watermelon."

"Will do, Françoise…" Zed said with a perverted grin. He was going to have some fun tonight…

2 hours and 17 drinks later, Zed was drunk off his ass. Edward, on the other hand, had a high tolerance for alcohol. She was a tad tipsy, but nothing that would affect her much. A drunken blush could be seen on her cheeks. "So… Are you ready for me?"

Zed stared at her, his vision blurred. "I sure am… Think you cun hadthle a real man?"

Ed chuckled, crossing her arms. "Well, think you can keep up with me?" she bluffed. She was actually still a virgin. She couldn't let her 'victims' know that though, now could she? Leading him into a backroom, she set him down in a chair and began taking off her coat and earmuffs. She sat on his lap, facing him. Putting her arms around him, she began to grind slowly against him. Showing no resistance, she allowed him to kiss her, slipping his tongue into her mouth. She suppressed the urge to shudder, but she soon calmed down after thinking about the big reward. Her eyes widened as he slipped a hand up her shirt. However, she used this as an advantage. While he was busy playing with her, she wrapped her arms around and a slipped on a small device. Drunk off his ass and preoccupied with 'Françoise', he didn't even notice.

After a few minutes, he had passed out. Leaving him there, she gathered up her things and left, getting ready for 'Phase 2' of her plan.

-----

As she sat outside the store she was at earlier, she watched the screen on her tracking device that she had slipped on Zed. She was waiting until he stopped for an extended period of time. When that happened, she would mark the location and wait until he left. She would then hurry over, free the ambassador, and then wait. She would then take Zed by surprise and capture him. After all that was over, she would then find Dex, punch him in the face, and bring both him and the Hammerhead back to the Bebop. She sighed to herself. "And after that, I'm going to brush my teeth and take a bath... I feel so dirty!"

Or at least, that's how it was supposed to go. When Edward arrived and untied Frederick, she found to her great annoyance that Dex had tailed her. "What the hell are _you_ doing here?"

"I followed you." Dex explained, taking out his own gun with a grin on his face as he walked into the shack. "Nice idea with the tracking device, by the way…" His expression becoming serious, he pointed his gun at Edward. "Now Ed, I'm going to have to ask you to drop your gun, step away from the ambassador, and leave."

The woman gasped, her eyes widening. Slowly taking her gun out of it's holster and putting it on the ground, she walked away as she stared at him with teary eyes. "W-why are you doing this, Dex-person?"

"Ed, I already told you... I'm not a very good person." Dex replied softly, staring at her sadly. "Being a cowboy isn't all fun and games, you know. There can be some pretty nasty things out there in the world. Not everyone is your friend."

"Damn you…" Ed said angrily, tears running down her face. "You're terrible…"

"Just what the hell is GOING ON HERE?" Zed screamed as he walked in, pulling out his gun. "So, you're a bounty hunter, Françoise? Should have known. I'll have to kill you first."

Ed stared in horror as he pointed the gun toward her. She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. She whimpered as she heard the sound of a gun going off, but was quite surprised to find out that she hadn't been shot. She opened her eyes and screamed in shock. "Oh my god, Dex!" She quickly caught him before he fell to the ground. She gasped as her hands were suddenly stained with blood. "But… why?"

Dex opened one eye, smiling. "Well, when you looked at me like that a couple minutes ago, I couldn't just let you die…"

"Well, this is just perfect…" Zed said with a smirk. "I can kill the ambassador, a random dude, and a cute girl at the same time! Then Titan will really be pissed!" He pointed his gun at the ambassador and quickly gave him a new hole in his forehead. "2 down, one to g--" He gave Ed an odd look as she glared angrily at him. He gasped as her eyes suddenly began to look like an angry cat.

Without giving him time to react, she pounced on him, biting and scratching and punching him furiously. "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT? YOU BASTARD! HE WAS JUST AN INNOCENT OLD MAN!"

"Agh! Crazy bitch!" Taken aback by her reaction, he finally recovered, taking a couple wild shots at her. Most of them missed, but he managed to graze her left side and shoot her in her right arm. He kicked her away and aimed his gun at her, laughing maniacally. "You know, I liked you! Too bad I'll have to blow your brains out!"

Edward let out a blood curdling scream, taking out the hidden gun in her boot and blowing several fresh new holes into Zed's torso. She shuddered in horror as his bloody fell into a heap onto the floor, blood flowing freely from his body. "Oh my god… I just killed someone…" She cried out, hugging her sides. "Why did things have to turn out this way?" Slowly standing up, she looked at the three… no, two dead bodies on the ground. Wait a second. She gasped as Dex hugged her from behind. "…Dex-person is alive?"

"Yeah, although I don't deserve it…" he admitted. He hugged her closer to him. "I'm so sorry, Ed… This is all my fault."

Her eyes narrowed, not knowing what to say. After a few moments of silence, she finally spoke up. "Yeah…" she said bitterly, sniffling and wiping her eyes. "It is…"

-----

A few hours later, they were back on the Bebop. Both and Dex were getting bandaged up. "I'm really sorry about all this, Jet… I've caused you and Edward nothing but trouble."

"Actually…" Jet smirked, shaking his head. "It's been too quiet around here lately ever since Faye left and Spike di--" he quickly stopped himself, not wanting to upset Ed anymore than she already was. "And while Ed was traumatized by today's events, I think it was a good growing experience for her… Wouldn't you say so, Edward?"

"Yeah, whatever…" Ed replied, standing up from the couch. "Thanks for bandaging me up. I'm going to my room." Slowly trudging to her room, she plopped onto the bed and stared at the wall. "Damn it all…"

****

Life Goes On, Cowgirl…


	3. Session 3: Pretty with a Pistol

It's been a while, but I'm back. Time for another chapter. Faye appearing? Maybe, maybe not. I now have a good idea of what I want to do with this series, but I'm not exactly sure if that's exactly what I want to do with it. It's basically in the 'rough draft' stages. Oh well, as long as it turns out good.

-Kouji Tamino

-----

Cowboy Bebop: The Second Session

In the restroom of a small restaurant, two men conversed while taking a leak. One was tall an lanky, with high spiky brown hair. He had dark brown eyes, a bony face, and was wearing a brown suit. The other man was short, kind of husky, and had curly brown hair. He was dressed in an orange polo shirt, tan pants, and browns shoes. As they finished up and washed their hands, the huskier man reached into his pocket and produced a scratch ticket. As he started scratching it, the other man sighed audibly in annoyance. "Why do you continuously waste your money with those things? You know you'll never win."

"Who knows?" The husky man replied, smiling. "I may just get lucky…" Scratching the card, the smile on his face became larger and larger as he scratched off each part. As he scratched the final mark, he grinned insanely. "Yes! Yes! I won!" He began to dance around in joy, accidentally knocking the suitcase next to him over.

Both men gasped as it fell to the floor, freezing in the positions they were in for a few seconds, before sighing in relief as they realized that nothing bad had happened. "You dumb ass!" the thinner man screamed, raising his fist. "Do you realize how dangerous that thing can be?"

The bigger man stared at the ground in shame. "Sorry…"

The tall man sighed, picking up the suitcase and walked toward the door, pushing it open. "Just be careful next time…" He growled, trying to snatch the scratch ticket away from his partner. After several unsuccessful attempts, he smacked his forehead. "Just put that thing away. After this job, that chump change will be nothing."

As they walked outside the building, a woman in a red sports car was waiting for them. She had boyishly short dark and unruly purple hair, big 80's style shades red lipstick, and was wearing a blue vest, white bikini top, jeans, and white platform shoes. "What kept you boys so long?" she asked with a smirk.

"Sorry, won't happen again…" the lanky man replied, grabbing shotgun while the his male partner got in the back. He gently handed him the suitcase before turning to his female partner in crime and grinning. "So. Shall we get started?"

-----

**Session 3: **_Pretty With a Pistol_

Edward stood in the shower, staring at the wall. It had been 5 days since that last incident, in which she had reluctantly taken someone's life for the first time. She sighed as she lifted her head, water running down her face. "But it was just self defense, right?" she bit her lip, wiping some loose hair from the front of her face. "Edward isn't a bad person…" She sniffled. "Is she?" Turning off the water, she stepped out of the tub, grabbed a towel, and put it around her self. As she stepped out of the bathroom, she bumped into Dex, who had been waiting for her to finish. "Oof!" she grunted, her towel slipping off. She giggled as it fell to the ground. "Whoops!"

"Gyah!" Dex screamed, wincing. Not like he _minded_ that Ed was flashing him, but still… "Sorry about that!" Unable to resist, he took in what he could of Edward's body. He had a weak spot for women with 'just out of the shower' hair.

"No problem!" Edward replied cheerfully, walking into the kitchen while she was still butt naked. "Edward's hungry…"

"Gyah!" Dex heard Jet scream from the kitchen as he walked into the bathroom. "Edward, put some damn clothes on! You're… not a little kid anymore!" As Edward ran out of the kitchen, Jet growled, peeking out. "And dry yourself off, you're dripping water everywhere!"

-----

"…What's that girls problem?" Dex asked, coming out of the restroom. "I mean, she's cute and everything, but a bit loopy. Is she…?" He pointed at his head with his index finger and twirled the finger clockwise.

"Naw, it's not that…" Jet replied, sighing audibly and sitting on the couch. "Edward is just what some people call… a free spirit."

"Oh, one of _those…_" Dex plopped onto the couch as well. "I see. Well, she certainly _does _seem to be a little 'free' right now, doesn't she?" He replied, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"Hey, watch it." Jet snapped gruffly, staring at the younger man. "Ed's like a daughter to me."

"Eep…" Dex whimpered, not wanting to unleash the full rage of an angry 'father'. "Sorry about that. I'll try and keep my comments to myself."

"I'd appreciate that." Jet crossed his arms, staring at the television. "…Yo, could you pass me the remote?"

-----

"Okay, I'm done being naked!" Ed shouted, as if it was anyone's business about her state of dress. "Shower's free!" Now fully dressed, sans any type of foot protection, of course, she walked on her hands towards the kitchen. "Now to forage for something for Edward to munch on! Onward, to the fridge of destiny!"

"Jeeeet, she's beginning to scaaare meee…" Dex seethed through his teeth in a singsong voice as he walked in from his room.

"You get used to it after a while…" Jet muttered under his breath. He smiled as he sat on the couch, reading. This was the first time in days that Ed had been so lively. Seemed like she was finally over what had happened.

Ed hand walked over to the Tomato, which was beeping wildly. She did a flip and landed right in front of it on her butt. There was an alert on the screen. Clicking it, she grinned. "Jet-person, Dex-person… Edward got a bounty alert!" As soon as she said that, they were soon all crowed around the computer. The three 'Catches of the Day', so to speak, were the three suspicious characters from earlier. Their names were under their pictures: Saieed Murata, the taller man, Drek Underwood, the shorter one, and the woman was simply called 'Alice'. Ed began to read out loud. "Ooh… 'Wanted for stealing a highly explosive compound. 5 million woolongs for each and 170,000,000 woolongs for all three of them.' Ooh, swooky…" Raising an eyebrow, she pointed at the screen. "But is it just me, or does Alice seem familiar?"

Jet squinted, a frown on concentration on his face. "Actually, yeah…" He began to scratch his head in puzzlement. "But I just can't put my finger on it…"

"So, shall we go bag them?" Dex asked with a grin.

The redhead scrolled down, reading some additional information on the three bounty head's whereabouts. "According to this, they were seen heading toward Mars…" Smirking, she looked up from her screen. "It looks like they're going to try and bust up that huge auction going down in the coming days!"

"And what makes you think that?" Dex asked, rolling his eyes. "What are you, psychic?"

Edward glared at the man, but resisted the urge to maul him. She sufficed for a low, animalistic growl. "Well, Einstein, put 2 and 2 together. Explosives, plus big event where there is bound to be plenty of money and expensive items, equals huge payoff!" She went to the official site and pointed at the bottom of the screen. There was information about the planned events at the auction. "Look here. It says that there is going to be a big party right before the actual auction! That gives them a few hours to get their hands on the items in the safe that are to be bid on!"

"Won't someone hear the damn explosion, though?" Dex asked, not wanting to give in. He leaned on the wall and "I don't know, this all seems to be a bit of a stretch. It's just too convenient…"

"The safe is located deep underground, if I'm not mistaken." Jet explained, eyes closed in concentration. "At the very most, all you'd be able to hear is a small thump and maybe even feel a small, unnoticeable rumble." He smiled, opening his eyes and looking towards the pessimistic man. "I should know, I was asked to help guard the items the first time they did something like this back when I was in the ISSP. Don't be such a downer, man."

"Fine, fine. Gang up on me." Dex said, frowning. "But still, if this thing is really big as you guys are making it out to be, there is no way we'll be able to get in. Admission must cost an arm and a leg."

"Oh, ye of little faith." Jet crossed his arms, chuckling. "Ed, can you get us a couple of tickets for this thing?" He hated take such illegal measures, but they really needed the money. They were down to literally their last couple of woolongs and they had pretty much no real food left. Just some junk food and a few leftover things that nobody really wanted to eat.

"Can do!" Radical Edward shouted excitedly, booting up her hacking program. Reaching around on the floor aimlessly, she grabbed her old goggles, putting them on. Going to the official site, she began searching for a suitable bank account to make her transaction. She had to do this quickly, though. Didn't want anyone to notice that money was being taken from his or her account. After choosing a bank account, she entered the information at the ticket purchase page, also specifying how many tickets were to be purchased. After the transaction was complete, Ed printed out the tickets and quickly shut everything down. "We now have admission to the auction!" She declared triumphantly, removing her goggles.

"Thatta girl, Ed!" Jet said proudly, smiling as he grabbed Dex in a headlock. He began to grind his fist into his forehead. "See? See? What'd I tell you? Ed's got this all under control."

"Ow! Ow!" the younger man screamed, trying desperately to break free. "Okay, okay! I get it!"

Letting him go, Jet chuckled. "Anyway, time to get down to business. Dex, you have any dressy clothes you can wear? If not, I'll check to see if there's anything lying around that you can borrow."

"Thanks, old man…" Dex replied, rubbing his head in pain.

"I am not an old man!" Jet screamed, standing up tall.

-----

A few days later, the big night arrived. Our trio of anti-heroes, although that term would fit Dex more than it would the other two, were decked out in their best. Edward wore a dress Faye left behind, a sexy black tight fitting strapless dress with faux-fur trimmings. She had matching high-heeled shoes, long gloves that extended a couple inches above her elbow, and was wearing her hair in a bun. Jet was dressed in his usual all cream colored suit and hat and black shoes, while Dex had on a blue suit with black shoes, matching tie and light blue dress shirt. "…I dunno, do you think we look rich enough to be in a place like this?" Dex asked jokingly as they arrived, a grin on his face.

"…Smart ass." Jet muttered, not in the mood for the other man's crap. "Let's just get this over with." He looked towards both of his younger partners. "Now, look. No fooling around, no fighting, no bullshit. Just look the trio, and contact the rest of us when you find them through the communication devices you have on you. Don't, I repeat, DO NOT try to apprehend them on your own." He tossed a quick look to Dex.

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "…Why the hell are you looking at me?"

"Because we all know that you'll try to take all the credit and betray us." Ed said knowingly, giving him a mischievous smile.

"…Shut up."

"We've got to get this done before the guards catch on to what's going on." Jet continued. "Otherwise, they catch them, and we lose the bounty." And with that, they headed in…

-----

Meanwhile, the 'Bomber Trio' was preparing their plan. After ambushing the guards responsible for protecting the safe and tying them up, they got to work, carefully laying down a white, powerful explosive compound. It is highly explosive while unexposed to air. Once air touches it, however, it is completely harmless. Drek opened up a case of power tools, while Saieed brought out a large top hat shaped plastic container with a small hole in it. Alice set up a fold up ladder, and Drek began to drill down the container over the compound. After it was securely fastened, they hooked it up with a machine designed to suck out any air pressure from a sealed container.

Alice walked over to the tied up guards, pulling out a gun. "Sorry boys, but we can't have any witnesses." Pulling the trigger, she ended their lives quickly with a few shots to the head. She frowned, sighing. "Rest in peace."

After they finished setting up, they headed up the stairway. Their truck was parked outside of an elevator, which required keys to use. Having snatched the keys off of the guards, they now had access to this elevator. Inside the suitcase that the compound was in, there was a button and a switch. The button must be pushed and held down before flipping the switch, otherwise there will be no reaction. Walking up the stairs a bit, they sat on the steps. Alice opened up the suitcase, pressing down the button and flipped the switch…

-----

During the party, Edward continuously gave Dex grief by posing as his girlfriend every time she caught him flirting with other women. "Damn it, Dex!" she screamed, stomping over to him angrily. "Quit screwing around with other girls!" Her bottom lip suddenly quivered, and her eyes shimmered. "…What, do you not find me attractive anymore? I… I love you!"

Dex began to sweat nervously as he was glared at by everyone near him and Ed, hearing cries of "Asshole! Home wrecker! Scum! Pig!" from the ladies and "Jerk! Selfish bastard! Dick! How could you cheat on such a hot piece of ass!" from the guys.

"H-hey!" Dex screamed, Ed tightly hugging his arm. "This isn't what you think! This girl is psycho!" He began to get booed and hissed at as Edward began to cry. "Oh god, I do _not_ need this…" He muttered quietly to himself.

Suddenly, there was a small rumbling. Only a few people took notice, but our cowboys and cowgirl smiled knowingly. "See, what'd I tell them?" Jet whispered into his com-device. "You feel that? I think it's time to move in."

"Wait, how the hell will we get in?" Dex asked. Suddenly, the lights went out and a fire erupted.

Jet chuckled. "That's how. Meet me at the entrance to the stairs. Hurry, while the guards are still distracted by all the chaos."

After sneaking their way past the befuddled guards, they ran down the steps. "Was it just me, or was that _too_ easy?" Dex asked, running behind Edward and Jet.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Jet replied simply, taking out his gun. "Come on, let's hurry!"

-----

As the trio began loading the items into their truck, they heard a sudden gunshot. Drek, a bit freaked out, dropped a priceless vase on the ground. It hit the floor and shattered. Saieed, infuriated, socked him in the face. "You clumsy, fat idiot! You're always dropping something or knocking it down!"

"I'm sorry, Saieed…" Drek muttered timidly, looking away.

Quickly pulling out her gun, Alice began to shoot at their pursuers. "Damn it, guys! Grab something and get out if here! I'll catch up with you!" Without even batting an eyelid, they quickly grabbed the most expensive looking thing they could and ran off like a bat out of Hell. "You could have at least, _acted_ like you didn't want to leave me behind, you bastards!" She screamed as Dex and Jet ran after them. "There are two of them! And was that Jet! Damn my luck is bad today!" She screamed again as a bullet missed her head by a few inches. "Gyah! Three! And what are you trying to do, kill me!"

"Wait, you know Jet-person?" Ed asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Jet-person?…" 'Alice' asked, her shades falling down her face. "Oh my god, Edward?" She smiled. "My, you sure filled out, didn't you? Hey, is that my dress?"

"Faye-Faye?…" Ed's jaw dropped, before frowning. "What the hell are you doing, Faye-Faye?" She huffed, stomping her foot. "Why are you with the bad guys, HUH?"

"Ed…" Faye said softly, looking away. Her face was pretty much the same, just a tad older and more adult looking. "I… got tired of trying to pay off my debt through bounty hunting. It…" she turned back to the younger woman, frowning angrily. "It wasn't getting me anywhere! So I… had to turn back to crime… I'm sorry, Edward…"

The hacker shook her head, sighing. "No, _I'm_ sorry that I have to bring you in, Faye-Faye…"

At that moment, both women held up their guns and shot at each other.

-----

Meanwhile, Jet and Dex were heading up the elevator. Evidently, the keys had been absentmindedly left in during the confusion. "Wouldn't it be technically be faster to use the stairs? We'll never catch up to them this way!"

"Well, I suppose it is a faster way…" Jet began, arms crossed and staring at the ground, hat over his eyes. "…if you want to get arrested." he continued with a smirk.

Dex stuck out his tongue. "Now who's being a smart ass?"

-----

As Drek and Saieed waited for their female partner to arrive, the latter growled in annoyance, smoking a cigarette. "Where the hell is Alice?" He looked over to his other partner, a grin on his face. "Hey, if she doesn't get here soon, wanna ditcher h--" He gasped, backing away and frantically grasping for his gun. His shaky hand pulled the trigger, missing. "Wh-what are you doi--?" he was silenced as he was shot several times in the chest, dropping his gun and falling to the concrete.

Drek stared at Saieed's dead body with a grin on his face, holding a smoking gun. "That's what you get for always making fun of me… IT'S NOT NICE!" He then followed that up by blowing more holes into his dead partner until the gun ran out of ammo. Tossing the gun to the ground, he fell to his knees. Grabbing Saieed's gun, he pointed at his own temple and fired.

-----

As the gunfight between Faye and Ed continued, they soon ran out of bullets. Running towards each other, they engaged in a fistfight. Ed, using a combination of moves she saw Spike use and her own techniques, had the upper hand. Dodging most of Faye's punches, she grabbed her arm, spun her around, and elbowed her in the face. Faye fell to the ground, wincing. She looked up at the girl pleadingly. "Please Ed, just let me go…"

"No can do, Faye-Faye…" Edward said sadly. "You're a bad guy now, and we really need the money."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Edward…" Faye said softly, reaching down to her foot and pulling a small gun from her shoe. Tears running down her face, she shot Edward in the chest. As the other woman fell to the ground, she stood up, closing her eyes. "Sorry, kid… But I've come too close to paying off my debts to get caught…" She took one last look at Edward before running off.

As Ed fell backwards, her eyes widened in shock, she thought for a moment. '_Right… Faye-Faye taught me that move…_' Just then, everything went black.

-----

A little while later, she awoke on a sofa. Looking around, she groaned in pain. "What happened?…" She was bandaged up and back on the Bebop.

"Sorry Ed, we lost all three of the bounties…" Jet said, smiling sadly at her. "One killed the other before killing himself, and the girl disappeared…"

Ed grimaced. '_Faye-Faye… How could she do that to me?_'

"We're glad you're all right, though…" Dex added, smiling at her. "How do you feel?"

"Sore…" Ed muttered. She was _not_ having a good week. Killed for the first time and was betrayed by a woman she _used_ to idolize. She didn't have the heart to tell Jet about her revelation. "And hungry. Got anything to eat?" Stupid. Of _course_ they didn't they lost the bounty, so…

"Actually, yes we do!" Dex exclaimed proudly. "I found a winning scratch ticket on the fat dude! We used part of it for new medical equipment, and the rest for food and bills and what not."

Jet shrugged. "So at least it wasn't a complete loss…"

Ed smiled a bit. "So… what do we have?"

Cheer up, Space Cowgirl…


	4. Session 4: In the Sky with Diamonds

It's been a while, but after a brush with writer's block, my brain is once again flowing with ideas. Believe it or not, but I had no idea what to do with this chapter until about halfway through the day. Then I thought 'hey, what if the crew caught a guy who stole jewels and he happened to have some on him?' and the ideas just suddenly started flowing. And so with that out of the way…

-Kouji Tamino

-----

**Cowboy Bebop: The Second Session**

"Has our little fishy arrived yet?" Edward asked, speaking into a walkie-talkie.

"Not yet…" Dex said quietly. He was standing right outside of a convenience store, shivering. "Are you sure he's gonna be here?" He asked, staring at his watch. "It's almost 1:00 a.m.!" The guy they were looking for was a jewel thief who has never been caught. He had stolen many different types of jewels and was currently taking residence on Venus.

Ed slowly grinned. "Positive. My source said that at every night at 1:00 a.m., like clockwork, Frank comes to this convenient store, buys a half gallon carton of milk, and drinks it right there in the store."

"Weird…" Dex shook his head. He suddenly saw a car park in the corner of his eye. Out of the car came a tall and slightly muscular man in a blue polo shirt, dark red pants, and black sneakers. He had long black hair and dark brown eyes. "There he is!" Walking over to the man in a casual manner, he waved. "Hi, there. Can I talk to you?" Unfortunately, it seemed that the man was onto him. Frank burst into a run in the opposite direction of the store, forcing Dex to give chase. "Damn it! Ed, he's trying to escape! Stop him, now!"

"Fine, fine…" The woman replied in a bored tone, starting up the Tomato II. "Never send a man to do a woman's job, as Faye-Faye used to say…" Her eyes suddenly widened as memories of her last encounter with Faye quickly returned. She put a hand on her chest, shaking with shock. "Faye-Faye… Why?"

"Ed!" Dex shouted through her walkie-talkie. "What the hell are you doing? GET MOVING!"

This quickly snapped her out of her trance. Grabbing the controls, she quickly apologized and hit the gas. She sped over to the convenience store, stopping dangerously close to Frank for comfort. The bounty head quickly fainted from the shock of almost getting run over. Edward opened up the cockpit and stared at her unconscious meal ticket. Giving a thumb up to her arriving partner, she smiled. "Easy as pie!"

"God!" Dex screamed staring at the scene with his hands on his head. "I'm glad you didn't kill him this time, but be more careful!"

-----

**Session 4:** _In the Sky with Diamonds_

And a few hours later, everyone was on the Bebop. The duo had confiscated a case of jewels that Frank had recently stolen and was sitting in the living room with Jet, staring at the gray box. Their bounty head was there as well, still knocked out and handcuffed to a sturdy pipe. The former ISSP officer rubbed his chin, glaring. "I just want to get one thing straight. Don't take anything from the box, don't peek inside to see its contents, don't touch it… Hell, I don't even want you to breath on it."

"That was four things…" Dex replied in a bored tone, picking the wax out of his ear and lying on the sofa lazily with his legs over one of the arms.

"Shut up." Jet snapped, annoyed by the younger man's sarcasm. "You know what I meant. This is precious cargo, understand? If we lose even one of these babies, we lose a big chunk of the reward money. Got it?"

"Aye aye, sir!" Ed shouted with a grin, hanging upside down from the top of the couch.

"How come she doesn't get berated for being sarcastic?" Dex asked, in an almost angry tone.

"Because she's always like that." Jet replied simply. "Besides, it's cute."

"Nya haaa!" Ed taunted, sticking her tongue out. Sliding down the couch, she landed on her hands and walked off.

"Come on, Jet…" Dex continued, raising his eyebrows pleadingly at the ex-cop. "Can't we at least just take little look see at what's in that thing?"

"NO." Jet said in a stern voice, standing up. "DO NOT touch that box! I'm going out for a bit. Ed!", he shouted, "If he touches it, you have my permission to bite him!"

"WHAT?" Dex screamed, as if he had just been given the death sentence.

"Yay!" Edward exclaimed from her bedroom.

"I can't believe this…" Dex muttered, his head in his hands as Jet left. "He's treating me like a kid…"

"That's cuz you act like a kid!" Ed replied, slithering up next to him like a snake.

"That's a fine thing for you to say…" Dex said in an annoyed tone. "You act more like a kid than me…"

"Ah ah ah!" Ed waved her finger, shaking her head. "Who's the child? The one that isn't afraid to live differently from the rest of society, or the one who whines like a little baby all the time?"

Dex rolled his eyes as Ed walked out again. "Whatever…"

"Psst, hey…" Frank whispered, finally awakening. He managed to catch Jet's leaving words and the short conversation between Ed and Dex "Don't listen to _those_ losers… Go ahead, take a little peek. You're a responsible adult, right? You're not going to go and lose something as precious as those jewels, are you?"

"N-no, of course I won't!" Dex replied, agreeing but not letting himself be fooled by the criminal. "But it's not like I really wanted to look at those dumb jewels anyway." He yawned, digging in his ear. "I just wish that Jet would stop pushing me around so much. I mean, yeah, I appreciate him taking me in and fixing up my ship but…" pounding his fist on the table, he growled. "Damn it, this is their fault, too! If only they had kept their noses out of **my** bounty hunt, I'd still have my perfect record! Since then, there have been nothing but failures!"

"Yeah!" Frank shouted in agreement. "If anything, you're entitled to some of those jewels!"

"You're right!" the bounty hunter shouted, letting it get to his head. Reaching over to the case, he snapped it open and just barely lifted the lid when Edward suddenly pounced him, biting down on his ear. "Ooww!" he screamed, struggling to roll over so he could regain control. "Damn it Ed, let go!"

"No way!" she growled in a slightly muffled voice. "You heard Jet person! No opening the box! Bad Dex! Bad boy!"

Dex growled angrily, practically yanking her off of his ear, turning them around, and slamming her on the ground. "Stop that, damn it! Do you have any idea how that hur--" He gasped as he realized that Ed was shivering, crying softly to herself while tears ran down her face, and even hiccupping. His expression softened as she stared up at him fearfully with wide, fearful eyes. "Ed, I…"

"G-get the hell away from me…" she whimpered pitifully, traumatized from the recent events and afraid that another one of her friends had turned on her. Grabbing his arms, she roughly pushed him away, quickly standing up and running to her room. She gasped as Dex grabbed her by the arm. "Let me go, you bastard! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" she shouted, pulling herself from his grasp and socking him right in the face. She gasped again, looking away. "I'm sorry, Dex-person… You probably hate me even more than you did before."

"Ed…" Dex began, staring at her sadly. "I don't hate you."

"Yes you do!" she screamed.

"No I don't!" he shouted back.

"Wow, this is better than the movies!" Frank replied, snickering.

"You stay out of this!" the two young bounty hunters snapped at him. They were both currently _not_ in the mood for any crap from _anyone_ at the moment.

"Oh, crap!" Dex shouted, suddenly pointing at the floor. In all the commotion, they had knocked the now opened case of jewels to the ground, scattering the precious stones all over the floor. "Oh god, Jet's gonna kill us…" Looking to the woman, he got on his knees and stared at her pleadingly. "Please! Help me…"

"That's pathetic." Frank teased. "Begging a woman for help." His eyes widened as a gun was put into his mouth. 'Was this girl insane?', he was thinking to himself.

"You can just be quiet, Franky-Frank." Edward replied slyly, pressing the gun into his mouth further. "Criminals should be seen and not heard." Frankly, pun not intended, she was sick and tired of his quips and attempts at manipulation. Maybe scaring him straight would shut him up, at least for a few minutes.

"E-Ed!" Dex shouted, waving his arms. "Wh-what the hell are you DOING?" He quickly grabbed her arms and pulled the gun out of his mouth. "Are you TRYING to blow the bounty away?"

Ed grabbed his collar and pulled him closer to her, whispering into his ear. "It's okay, Dex-person…" She giggled, smiling mischievously. "The gun's not even loaded and the safety's on. He was never in any danger." Winking, she patted him on the back, still whispering. "Edward's not an idiot, you know…"

"Sometimes I wonder…" Dex muttered to himself. That comment earned him a whack on the head. "Ow! Now enough playing around, are you gonna help me or not?"

"Yesh!" she replied, putting the gun away.

As they picked up the precious stones, a rather large red ruby caught Edward's eye. It's lush shade of red and its shininess attracted the woman to it. Unable to take her eyes off of the stone, she slowly picked it up and began cradling it in her arms as if it was her child. "You're so beautiful…"

As Dex picked up the jewels by himself, he glared over at his female partner. "Hey, I thought you said you were going to help m--" He raised an eyebrow in confusion as he watched Ed act 'motherly' towards the ruby she was holding. "Ed…" he began, slowly. "Just what in the hell do you think you're doing?"

"It's Edward's baby…" Edward replied, rocking the large ruby side to side like a baby. "Isn't she pretty?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's pretty…" Dex muttered, a tad freaked out by this sudden development. He put his hand out, moving his fingers back and forth in a 'gimme' motion. "Now give me the stone. Jet could come back at any minute!"

"NO!" she screamed, turning away from him. "She's Edward's! You can't have her!"

The man sighed, annoyed at this new predicament that had arisen. "Ed, quit playing around. Give me the ruby before we get chewed out by the old man."

"Get away from us!" she snarled, putting the jewel in her mouth and crawling away like some sort of animal. Dex quickly gave chase, but she beat him to her room, locking the door as it shut in his face.

Rubbing his temples, he sighed. "I cannot believe this…" Knocking on the door, he screamed. "Ed! Damn it Ed, open this door! We don't have time for your fooling around!"

On the other side of the door, Ed spit out the ruby. Smiling at it, she cooed. "Are you alright, my darling?" Glaring at the door, she growled in a low tone, like a dog guarding it's home from a thief at night. "I want to keep the ruby! It will get taken away forever if I give it back!"

"Ed, we can't…" Dex said sadly. To tell the truth, he wouldn't mind taking a few jewels for himself. "Every jewel needs to be accounted for in order for us to collect the reward money."

"I don't wanna!" she shouted, holding the ruby tightly against her chest.

"Ed…" Dex said a little more loudly, losing his patience.

"But it's pretty!" Edward shouted, holding back tears.

Dex looked around the room for anything that could help him out of this mess. His eye slowly focused on Ed's laptop. It was low, but it had to be done. Picking it up, he began to shout at the top of his lungs. "Edward!" he shouted in an angry voice. "If you don't open that door by the count of ten, I'm going to smash your computer into pieces!"

Shocked, the young hacker's eyes widened in horror at this announcement. "You _wouldn't_…"

"You think I'm KIDDING?" Dex screamed. "I'm holding it in my hands right now! 10!"

"Not my Tomato…" she said softly, tears running down her face. "How cruel…"

He continued his countdown. "9! 8! 7!"

"You…" Ed grit her teeth angrily. She wasn't scared anymore, she was pissed. How dare he threaten her precious laptop like that! "You BASTARD!" she screeched. "Don't you **dare** hurt my Tomato!"

Dex, un-phased, kept on counting. "6! 5! 4! 3! 2!--" The door suddenly slammed open, a very ticked looking Edward staring at him with rage. "Just in time!" He began to get a little worried as he looked at her expression. Slowly setting down the Tomato, he began to chuckle nervously. "Um, Ed, I--" He screamed as she jumped on him violently, sending them both tumbling to the ground. The ruby went flying through the air as she quickly overpowered him and grabbed him in a headlock. "Ed! ED! I'm sorry! I had no choice!"

"You shit head! You jerk! You asshole!" Ed shouted, squeezing his neck tightly. "I'm going to kill you!" She glared at Frank as he began to laugh his head off at the scene.

"Ack!" Dex wheezed, trying to pry her arms off of his neck to no avail. "You're choking me!"

"Good!" Ed replied. Suddenly, there was a shattering noise. Turning to the source of the sound, they both gasped as they saw the broken remains of the 'ruby'. Slowly loosening her grip on Dex, "It was… it was…"

"…fake?" Dex asked, finishing the question. Growling, he turned to Frank. "What's the big idea, HUH? I almost got killed for that fake piece of shit! Are all of them fake?"

"Yes, actually." the captured bounty head replied. "What, you think I'm stupid enough to carry my jewels around? My accomplice is probably on the other edge of the galaxy by no--" His eyes widened as Ed and Dex brought out fully loaded guns, cocking them. "H-hey guys, let's not get too hasty!" He closed his eyes tightly, screaming as they pulled the triggers. He could hear the bullets slamming against the metal wall. And then silence. Slowly opening his eyes, he shivered in fear. They had shot around him with blanks. Having soiled his pants in fear, he then passed out. Again.

Blowing the smoke away from their guns, the cowboy and cowgirl looked to each other and smirked.

_That's just the way that it is, Cowgirl and Cowboy…_


	5. Session 5: Adieu, Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Nilla Wafers. I also do not own Cowboy Bebop. No money is being made off of this hobby of mine.

And so I return. Sorry about the long wait, I had really bad, really serious computer problems. Like, CRITICAL bad. I mean 'I thought I'd never be able to use the computer again' bad. Anyway, I _somehow_, with no training at all, managed to fix it. It's actually running smoother than it has in a while. Anyway, enough of that. Let's begin.

-Kouji Tamino

-----

**Cowboy Bebop: The Second Session**

"Hey, Dex!" a young male shouted. "Hurry up or we're going to ditch you!"

"Sorry…" A much younger Dex, of about 14, apologized and tried to keep up with his older companions. It had been about 2 months since they had taken him under their wing and taught him the fine ways of thievery. So far, they hadn't been caught. But tonight, he was getting a bad feeling about tonight's heist.

When they were caught by the owner of the house, an old man, his suspicions had unfortunately been confirmed. "Hey!" the elderly man shouted. "What the hell are you doing? Put those down!"

His fear of bad things happening increased as his 'partners-in-crime' began to beat the old man to shut him up. "H-hey, you guys! Stop it!" And his crappy life got even crappier as the man's life left him. Eyes widening, Dex began to back away. "Oh my god… What have you done?"

-----

12 years later, a ship full of inmates were being transported to another prison by ship. All was going well when all of a sudden, all the doors flew open. Criminals burst out of their cells and ran all around the ship, killing guards and police officers as hey took over the ship. As the chaos passed, two figures stepped out of their temporary cell. One of them was tall and scrawny, barely any meat on his bones. He had dark brown, scraggly hair and beady eyes. He was dressed in a bright orange inmates uniform. "We'll have to thank whoever let us out…"

His partner was dressed in the same, an even taller, 'ripped' man. He had a slight tan, black hair, a buzz cut, and dark brown eyes. Chuckling, he began to crack his knuckles. "How about we get these idiots to take us to Mars?"

"Are you sure he still lives there?" the scrawny one asked.

Nodding, the large man smiled. "Oh yeah, he's still there. He'd better be."

With that, the Dex as we know him awoke from his recurring nightmare. "Oh god…" he muttered, shaking his head. "Not _that_ dream again…"

"Yo, Dex!" Jet shouted poking his head in from the kitchen. "Breakfast is ready!"

Sighing, Dex slowly got off the couch and went to go get something to eat.

-----

**Session 5: **_Adieu _(Part 1)

"My King is finally fixed?" Dex asked in surprise. "It's about time!"

"You're welcome…" Jet replied sarcastically, crossing his arms.

"Oh, sorry…" Dex rolled his eyes. "Thank you."

"So…" Ed said softly, looking down at her food. "Dex-person is leaving us now?"

"Yep!" he shouted happily. "Sure am! I bet you and Jet will be glad to get me out of your hair, right?"

"Yeah…" she began to absentmindedly poke at her food. "Well, nice knowing ya…"

"Ed, is something wrong?" Dex asked with a bit of concern.

"It's nothing." She said simply, suddenly standing up. "Excuse me." She continued, walking from the coffee table and locking herself away in her room. Jumping on her bed, she landed on her back and stared at the ceiling. After a moment of this, she began to pound her bed with her arms and legs. "No way! No way! No way! Another person leaving Bebop? Why does this always happen to Edward?"

-----

"You sure she's okay?" Dex asked from outside the room, raising an eyebrow. "She seems pretty upset." He was all packed up and ready to go. "She's been in there for quite a few hours."

Jet, already used to this reaction from her, chuckled. "Don't worry, she always acts that way when someone she likes leaves for good."

"Ed likes a no good punk like me?" Dex asked, amused. "Surprise, surprise…"

"Yeah, kind of shocks me too…" Crossing his arms, he leaned on the wall and waved once. "Seeya later, you punk."

Laughing, Dex picked up one of his bags. "Later, old man." Walking over to Ed's door, he knocked with his free hand. "Hey, Ed? I'm going now."

"Go away, you bastard!" Ed shouted, lifting her head from her pillow. The area around her eyes was red from crying. "I hate you!"

"What the HELL?" Dex shouted, kicking the door. "Here I was, worried about you, and you're yelling at me! You know what? I'm glad I'm leaving! You guys have been nothing but bad luck!"

"Fine!" she screamed, tossing her pillow at the door. "Go away! Edward never wants to see Dex-person again!" Why was she making such a big deal about this, she thought to herself. She had only known Dex for about 3 and a half months. "Maybe…" she said softly to herself. "Edward is just lonely…" Spike's dead, Faye betrayed her, and Jet can't always be there for her. Besides, what was keeping him from leaving her too? Crying out, she jumped up from her bed, opened the door, and fell to her knees. "Dex-person! Don't leave!" To her dismay, he was already gone. She could her his ship departing. "No…"

"You're too late." Jet replied, staring at her with his arms still crossed. Giving her a puzzled look, he sighed. "What the hell was that all about? I've never witnessed you blow up like that before…" Putting a hand on her head, he ruffled her hair a bit, comfortingly. "What's going on, Ed?"

"Edward…" she pouted, sniffling. "Edward doesn't know…"

"Do you love him?" Jet asked, smirking. Unfortunately, Edward didn't catch the joke. He screamed out in pain as Ed bit him in the leg. "Get off, Ed! I was just kidding!"

"Don't joke like that, Jet-person…" Edward glared, her teeth still planted into poor Jet's leg.

"Okay, okay!" He shouted, wincing in agony. "Just let go, damn it!"

-----

Meanwhile, Dex was making a quick pit stop at a convenience store. He wanted to stock up on plenty of junk food before departing on his journey to Callisto. Groaning, he rubbed his temples. "The place is a total sausage fest, but the bounty is pretty big. Should at least get me back on my feet." Getting out of the cockpit, he locked his ship and strolled into the store. As he browsed the shelves for his favorite snack, he caught a familiar face in the corner of his eye. A tall, buff looking man with a shaved head… He was wearing a dark green t-shirt, a dark red jacket, matching pants, and black shoes. "No way!" He whispered to himself, ducking behind some donuts. "He couldn't be out of jail by now!" He really didn't feel like speaking with his 'old friend', but he also had to leave Mars soon before someone else caught the bounty head. He quickly began to snatch up his favorite foods, hoping to get out of the store before anyone noticed him. He picked up a box of Nilla Wafers, only to find himself face to face with another old pal. "Um, hi!"

The lankier of the two fugitives waved in his outfit of a black tank top, red and white plaid jacket, khaki pants and red and white sneakers. "Yo! Remember us? Did a few jobs, and then you snitched on us?"

-----

As Dex was dragged out of the store, stuck in a headlock, he began to scream his head off. "PLEASE! Don't kill me! I only did it because I was scared! You guys know I would never betray you if I was in my right mind!"

"Exactly." the lanky one, named Lance, replied, grinning. "That's why we're inviting you to rejoin us."

"Huh?" Dex asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm just as confused as you…" Drake, the other man, tightened his grip. "What the hell is going on, Lance?"

"I'm willing to let bygones be bygones." Lance explained, shrugging. "Under one condition. Stick with us, swear eternal allegiance to us…" He waved a gun in his captive audiences face to make his point. "Otherwise, we can't guarantee your safety. So, are we clear on that?"

"S-sure!" Dex replied shakily. His worst nightmare was coming true. "I'll go with anything you guys want to do!"

-----

Jet winced as he examined his leg. "Damn it Ed, I think I'm bleeding…"

"Sorry…" Edward apologized pitifully, pouting and sitting on the couch with her arms crossed. Her expression softening, she looked to Jet hopefully. "…Do you think Dex is coming back?"

"I dunno, Ed…" he replied, resting his foot on the foot of one couch. "It's not like the old days, where someone could 'leave for good' and be back in time for dinner…" Chuckling lightly, he put a hand on his forehead while staring at the ceiling. "You have to admit though, it was pretty fun having someone else around again, right?"

Ed giggled, stretching on the other couch. "Yep yep!" Sighing, she lazily dangled over the couch and just rested there for a moment. "I hate Dex." She said suddenly.

"Hm?" Jet raised an eyebrow in interest. "What's that? Ed not speaking in 3rd Person?"

"He just pisses me of that much." Edward replied, frowning. "I mean, I like him, but he makes me mad sometimes." Her eyes began to wander. "It's hard for Edward to be herself sometimes when she's around him… For some reason, Ed feels… goofy."

Jet suddenly burst out laughing. "Ed, I think you're finally starting to act like a girl!" His laughing frenzy continued until he was suddenly bit in the other leg. "Ow! Damn!" He stared down at Ed, lip quivering. "Okay, I'll stop making fun of you! Just quit biting me in the legs!"

-----

About 4 days later, a bounty popped up on the screen. Ed slithered over to her computer. "Hello! What's this?" Reading intently, she smiled. "Ooh, mysterious trio of baddies! A tall one, a skinny one and a blonde one."

"Well that's not very descriptive…" Jet replied, scratching his head. "That could be **any** three random poor bastards."

"Doesn't hurt to try!" Edward replied cheerfully.

"Forget it." Jet muttered. "It's a waste of time."

"Fine!" she shouted, putting her hands on her hips. "Edward's going by herself!"

"Ed, wait!" Sighing as she left, he rubbed his temples. "Fine. Go get yourself killed. "

-----

At a warehouse, Drake and Dex loaded up a truck with stolen goods as Lance checked off the inventory. "That should be about it for this place." He said with a smirk. "I think we're good to go!"

"Ready to go to jail, you mean." Edward replied, pointing her gun at him. "Hands up in the air. You're coming with me!" Her eyes widened as she got a good look at the third member of the group. "Dex, no… Wait, where'd the big one go?" She suddenly blacked out as someone snuck up behind her and pressed a pressure point.

"Ed, no!" Dex screamed, literally dropping everything and running towards her.

Catching her, Drake smiled. "Hey, she's pretty cute. What should we do with her?"

"Do what you want with her." Lance said with a smile. "And then kill her when you're done."

"All right…" Drake licked his lips in anticipation.

"Hey. Assholes." Dex said calmly, standing with his hands at his sides. "Put the girl down and leave her alone. She has nothing to do with us."

"She's a bounty hunter, she has everything to do with us." Pointing his gun at Dex, Lance glared angrily. "Have you forgotten who's in charge?"

Dex spat in Lance's direction. "Go ahead and kill me, you dick. I don't care. My life was over the day I gave up on everything and joined you bastards the first time." At this moment, the ever energetic Ed quickly regained consciousness. "Just let Edward go. Her life for mine."

Ed shook her head. "Dex, don't!" Her mouth was quickly covered.

"Deal." The bony man said with a grin, cocking his gun. "You die, we take her as our slave."

The blonde's eyebrow twitched. "That wasn't the deal."

"Like I give a shit." Lance pulled the trigger, hitting his former partner in the chest.

Edward watched in horror as he fell to the ground, hard. He lay there, motionless. "DEX! NO! YOU BASTARDS!" Managing to break free of her captor, she was quickly pulled by her hair and yanked back. One jab to the back of the neck, and she passed out again.

"Let's hurry and get her tied up before she wakes up again." Drake muttered.

After tying her up in some rope, they tossed her in the back of the truck with all the stolen goods and drove off, leaving Dex to die. As the night wind picked up, he lay with his body sprawled across the ground, his head turned to the side, and his shirt becoming soaked in his own blood.

_**To Be Continued…**_


	6. Session 6: Adieu, Part 2

And I'm back. My updates will most likely become less and less frequent, as I finally have a girlfriend. I will try to update again as soon as possible, though. Anyway, let's begin.

-----

**Cowboy Bebop: The Second Session**

Edward awoke in a dark, damp, abandoned warehouse. Shaking her head, she looked around, squinting as she spotted her two kidnappers. She was currently handcuffed to a support beam, her arms behind her back. Unafraid, she mocked the two criminals. "An abandoned warehouse, oh please… How cliché."

"Hey, don't push your luck!" Drake warned, waving his finger near her face. Big mistake. The young woman took this opportunity to bite his digit. "Ow!", he screamed, "Let go!" After managing to yank his finger out of her mouth, he backhanded her. "You **bitch**, how dare you!" Turning to his partner, he began whining. "Can we kill her now, Lance? Please?"

"Not yet…" the thin man replied. "I wanna have a little fun with her, first."

"Ew, how brutal and vulgar you two are. I'm sooo turned on." Ed replied sarcastically, blood trickling down her mouth and chin. "Do you always beat and rape on the first date?" These guys didn't scare her. She could easily get out of the cuffs with a little maneuvering and moving of bone, and then she could easily beat them. She had been distracted earlier. It was Dex she was worried about. He looked pretty bad when they left him there. What if he was dead?

-----

**Session 6: **_Adieu _(Part 2)

When the aforementioned awoke, he was back on the Bebop. "Agh… What the hell?" He winced as he tried to sit up, shirtless and his upper body bandaged up. "Where's Ed?"

"I don't know…" Jet replied, sitting across from him with his arms crossed. Staring down at the ground, he growled slightly. "Perhaps I can ask you that question? What the hell happened out there?"

"How'd you find me?…" Dex asked, staring at the ceiling. "I didn't think you'd know where to look for us."

"Well actually, I was looking for Edward." Jet replied bluntly. "She left to go on another hunt, didn't come back for quite some time, so I started to get worried." Standing up, he began to walk towards the younger man. "After checking Ed's computer, I went to go to the scene to see just what the hell was going on… And then I found your half dead ass and Ed was nowhere to be found." Leaning down, he glared. "So I will ask you one more time… Where the hell is Edward?"

"I don't know…" Dex replied, gritting his teeth. "Damn it, I don't know!" Closing his eyes, tears rolled down his face. "She could be dead, for all we know… And it's all my fault… Those guys… They've had it out for me for years…"

"What do you mean?" Jet asked, his voice becoming threateningly low. "Speak up now, or that gunshot wound won't be the only thing you have to worry about."

"I used to rob houses with them. I had no place to call home, and these guys took me in. Then they started to get violent, so I ratted them out. It looks like they broke out of jail." Sighing, Dex smacked his forehead. "And now Ed's gotten herself caught up in _my_ mess…"

Jet's expression softened. "Oh, I see…" He yelped as Dex began to get up. "H-hey! What the hell are you doing? You're in no condition to be up and about like that!" The usually whiny Cowboy was starting to remind him of someone familiar.

Dex smirked, groaning in excruciating pain. "I gotta get Ed outta this mess, right?" He began to walk towards the hangar. "My King is back, right?"

Jet let himself get distracted by the question as he walked towards the blonde. "Yeah, I had both ships towed and-- Hey, wait!" he shouted, snapping back to reality. "You're not going anywhere! I'll find Ed, you rest!"

Dex laughed, loading his gun. "No way, Pops, this is my job to finish…" Locking himself into his room, he emerged fully dressed a few minutes later, ready to go. "Besides, you have no idea where they are. I know those two. I know where they go."

Sitting on the couch, an exasperated expression on his face, he reluctantly waved him off. "Fine, fine… But if you get yourself and Ed killed, I'm gonna kill you."

-----

As Dex wandered all over Mars, looking for any leads as to where his two former comrades could be, he found himself in a familiar setting. "This is where…" His voice trailed off as he got lost in nostalgia. "This is where I used to live…" The busy streets and buildings crowded together brought back memories from his childhood, reminding him of simpler days when he and his family all lived together in the same house. He wondered… he began to run down the sidewalk, bumping into people and making the occasional apology. Stopping as he arrived at his destination, he stared at the building in awe. "It's still here…" Collapsing to the ground in exhaustion, he smiled. "I'm home…" After resting in that spot for a few moments, he pondered over whether or not he should go in. It had been over a decade since he had last been there. For all he knew, someone could have moved in quite some time ago. But still, he had to do this. This house was one of the last links to his past, and perhaps the only way he'd find out where to find Ed. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door. To his surprise, the door swung right open. In fact, it pretty much came off the hinges and fell to the floor. Obviously, the theory of someone else living here now was pretty much shot. He swallowed a lump in his throat, taking the first step he had made in that house in almost 13 years. It was eerie. Nothing in that house had been moved or taken. It was exactly the way it had been when he left. He wiped his eyes as he rediscovered an old picture of himself and his parents. He had been 4 years old at the time. As he stared wistfully at the picture, he failed to notice the shadow looming over him. He screamed as he was hit in the head with a broom. "H-hey! What the hell?"

A tall, elderly woman with gray hair tied in a bun stood over Dex, waving her broom threateningly. She was dressed in a pinkish red shirt, blue apron, jeans, and white sneakers. Her were a deep, yet somewhat fiery brown, and she was quite wrinkled. "Don't you dare try and rob this house, you… you hooligan!"

"Nana? Is that you?" Raising an eyebrow, he smiled, grabbing the woman in a big hug. "Nana, it is you!"

"Let go of me, you fiend! I'll--…" Her eyes widened in realization, tears running down her face in happiness. "Dexter?… Is it really you?" She hugged him back, closing her eyes. "Dexter, you're alive… Welcome home…"

-----

The two soon sat down to enjoy a cup of tea together. "It's been too long…" The man's old housekeeper replied. "After your parents died, we grew farther and father apart. Your time spent at home lessened until one day, you just up and left… Where did you go off to?" She and Dex had been so close before, it was as if they had been relatives. She was eager to hear what he had been up to during the past decade.

Dex sighed, not knowing how to break it to her. "Well um, you see…" He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head. He yelped as Nana reached for her broom. "I've become a bounty hunter! Don't hit me!"

"I see…" she began, settling down. "So you've gone and become a Cowboy…" Smiling, she shook her head. "Oh well, I suppose it's better than playing with those delinquents you used to hang around with. Always hanging around that abandoned warehouse… Weren't they locked up for beating an old man? I was so relieved when I found out you weren't involved."

"Actually, Nana…" Dex began, frowning. "I was there. I'm the one who snitched on them." Standing up, he sighed. "I have to go. I have to find someone and I have no idea where to go-- Wait, did you just say warehouse?"

"Yes, the old warehouse that--" The old woman came to a sudden realization. "Oh, I see… Wait right here. Before you leave, I have something to give you…" Leaving the room for a moment, she returned with a smooth oval shaped, aqua colored jewel on a gold necklace. "Take this… It will bring you good luck."

"But Nana…" Dex replied, getting choked up on the inside but hiding it with a somber look. "I can't take this. It's your favorite."

"Take it" , she urged, "you need it." Her expression softened, and she began to tease him. "Besides, maybe you'll finally find a nice girl…"

"Yeah, right…" Dex muttered, accepting the amulet and putting it on his neck. "The only woman who will even speak to me right now is clinically insane." He hugged her one last time and turned to leave. "Well, I'm off."

-----

As Lance finished gagging Ed, he sighed in relief. "That ought to shut her up. Damn, she's got a great body, but once she opens her mouth…" Running a hand through his hair, he chuckled. "Anyway, I'd better get to work on her before something else comes up." Just as he started to reach for the top button on her pants, he soon found himself locked between the woman's legs, in danger of being strangled by them. He screamed out in a muffled voice, surprised to find a hand reaching for his gun. Poking out his head from Ed's crotch, he soon found himself face to face with the barrel of his own gun.

Edward smiled, turning to Drake. "Now why don't you be a nice boy for Edward and get this other hand cuff off." She licked her lips, tasting the metallic-like flavor of the drying blood. "Otherwise, Edward can't guarantee your partner's safety…"

"Go ahead and kill him." Drake replied in a plain tone, cocking his gun. "Right now, he's just a reliability."

"Huh?" Ed raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"MMFFFF?" Lance screamed, voice still completely muffled.

As Drake prepared to pull the trigger, a stray bullet appeared from nowhere. It shattered the chain to Ed's cuffs. Taking advantage of the moment, Ed did a flip, taking Lance with her and slamming him into the ground. She went into a roll in the middle, dodging a few bullets before all out charging the tall man. She hit him right in the gut with her head, sending the man sprawling across the ground in shock that a woman that small could send him off his feet. Having dropped his gun, he quickly got back on his feet, smacking Ed's gun out of her hand as he got up. He was prepared this time.

Unfortunately for Ed, she had no idea what was in store for her next. After planting a few blows to areas Spike had told her about, she winced and shook her hands. What was this guy made of, steel? "Owie… That hurt."

"Heh, heh… Your martial arts won't work on me…" He knocked on his head, a few clanks implying that he wasn't completely organic. "While I was in prison, there was nasty accident one day that left me on the brink of death. They tested a new cybernetic experiment on me to try and save my life and see if their technique would work." Grabbing the now frightened girl's arm, he head butted her in the face. As her head flew back with a sickening cracking noise, evidence of her broken nose, he grabbed her by the front of her shirt and laughed. "Not so hot now, are you?" His eyes widened as a bullet found it's way into his back. Another soon ended up wedged in his skull. He fell to the ground, almost falling on top of Edward. Fortunately, she managed to roll out of the way.

She pinched her nose to stop the blood flow, smiling as a familiar face appeared above her, holding his hand out. "Dex-person… You're alive…"

Nodding, he smiled back. "Yeah. Sorry I cut things so short. You wouldn't be so messed up."

"Edward'll be all right." she replied, winking. "Edward can take care of herself." Her expression suddenly became serious. "Dex-person, you have something you have to take care of, right?"

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me." He looked around the warehouse, a shiver going down his spine as a horrible revelation fell upon him. Lance and Drake had disappeared. "Shit…" Clenching his fist, he fell to his knees, punching the floor until his fist was bloody. "Damn it! Those bastards!"

-----

A battered Lance and Drake limped pitifully as they shamefully escaped from their defeat. "Don't worry, man…" the skinny man replied. "We'll get him next time… And we'll kill that bitch, too. No questions asked."

"Not before you help _me_ torture her, I should hope…" a sultry voice replied from the shadows. "After all, I _did_ break you out…"

"And who the hell are you?" Drake asked, still recovering from a few fried circuits.

"A friend…" she replied, her voice becoming a bit more lighter. "A hacker friend. A pissed off hacker friend who wants to wring Edward's neck!"

"I like the sound of that?" Drake replied. "What's your name, babe?"

"That is no concern of yours at the moment." she said, her tone deepening. "Come. We have much work to do."

-----

Ed awoke in the living room, wincing from the bright light. "Is Edward dead?"

"No, but both of us are pretty lucky that we aren't…" Dex replied, smirking. "We made some pretty stupid decisions today, didn't we?…"

"Yeah…" Ed replied, smiling. "Edward is sorry, Dex-person…" She gasped, blushing a bit as he patted her on the head.

"I know… Me too…" he chuckled a bit. "I… have to really work on my people skills… But for you, I think I can change."

"Awww, isn't that sweet?" Jet teased, having recently entered the room. Laughing heartily, he shook his head. "I only wish I had a camera…"

"Jet!" the two younger members of the Bebop shouted.

"…What?" he asked innocently, getting a pillow thrown in his face.

_**Some Things Just Never Change…**_


	7. Session 7: Cats on Mars

And that ends the first 'back story 2-parter'. Now it's back to the 'bounty of the day' format. The next one won't be until the end of the series (around chapter 12 or so), but there may be one or more chapters dealing with either Dex, Ed, or Jet's past along the way. And expect another appearance of Faye sometime in the future. So with that said, let's jam.

---Kouji Tamino

-----

**Cowboy Bebop: The Second Session**

Edward walked home from another failed bounty hunt, a look of utter defeat glued on her face. She drug her feet lazily, not wanting to pay up on the bet she made with Dex. He had claimed she would not only be unable to catch the bounty head, but also never find them in the first place. He was correct on both counts. And just to add some salt on the wound, it began to rain, as if the planet was spitting on her. She groaned, wishing she had brought an umbrella, or at least a jacket. "How the hell did Faye-Faye deal with this on days like this?" She sighed as she once again reminded herself of that horrible day running into a covered alley to wait and see if the rain would let up. The rain came so suddenly, and it had been such a nice day before. As she waited, shivering, her ears perked up at the sound of weak mewing. Slowly turning around, she squealed as she saw an abandoned black and white kitten in a cardboard box. "How cute!" Quickly walking over, she cuddled it against her cheek. "What kind of evil person could leave such an adorable little guy like you here!" Taking a good look at the feline, she smiled. "Edward is gonna take you home to Bebop-Bebop, yes she is! The others are gonna love you!"

-----

**Session 7: **_Cats on Mars_

Dex was suddenly jarred from his sleep, much to his chagrin, by a cheerfully squealing Edward. He had been having a nice dream, too… Sitting up, he figured that if Edward was going to wake him up like that, he was entitled to know what had her so… much more hyper than usual. "What happened, Edward? Did you finally manage to hack into the ISSP's main computer?" he asked, sarcastically. He recoiled as she suddenly shoved a kitten in his face. His stared at the kitten with a deadpan expression as it cutely pawed the air in front of his face. "…What the hell is this?" he asked, completely serious.

"It appears to be a kitten." Jet replied sarcastically, leaning down to pet it. "And it's really cute, Edward… What are you gonna name it?"

"Wait, what?" Dex raised an eyebrow, staring at the others. He began to note that Edward looked very similar to the kitten at the moment. "Who said that the cat was staying here?" To Dex, the situation was becoming very unsavory. "I don't like cats. Edward, I'm sorry but he can't stay."

As Edward began blubbering pathetically, Jet patted her on the head. "Don't worry, Ed…" He glared at the younger man, still addressing her. "He has no authority to make such a demand. The kitten can stay."

"But but but…" Dex sputtered, his expression becoming more downcast.

"Aw, another animal hater I suppose?" Jet asked, crossing his arms with a smirk. "Another thing you have in common with a guy I used to know."

"Correction…" Dex replied, standing up and waving his index fingers. "I like dogs." Smiling, he put his hands at his sides. "Dogs are awesome."

"We used to have a dog…" Edward replied, hanging upside down over the couch while holding the little cat. "We was quite possibly more intelligent than all of us." She frowned, losing her grip and landing straight on her head. The two men winced. Settling down, she sighed. "But he died about 3 years ago…" Quickly reverting to her usual manner, she grinned. "I'm going to call him Grand Kaiser Joseph William McDougal Kizel XV." She giggled as Dex's jaw dropped in reaction to the rather long name. "But let's just call him Gran for short!"

A sudden realization fell over the young man. "Hey, wait…" Dex began, scratching his head. "If he's your first cat, how he be the 15th?" Ed's little world was becoming increasingly more confusing by the moment. Perhaps if he could escape the ship in time, he could leave before his brain exploded from the insanity. He raised an eyebrow as the kitten was thrust into his face once again. "What now?"

"Gran wants a kiss." Edward replied, smiling. This was going to be so much fun. "Come on, please?"

"No way." He said, shaking his head. "You couldn't pay me to kiss that wretched feline." He scrunched up his nose at the wet animal smell. "Besides, didn't you find it in the streets? It's probably dirty and who knows what germs it's carrying."

Edward pouted. "You're mean! A simple yes or no would have sufficed!" Sniffing the kitten, she winced. "I do suppose he could use a bath, though… Stinky Gran! Dirty Gran!" Still holding the young cat, she traveled to the bathroom, not bothering to close the door. Jet quickly shut it, glaring at a disappointed Dex.

-----

A few minutes later, a naked Ed was bathing Gran, humming happily. After scrubbing the kitten thoroughly, she dunked it in the water briefly to quickly rinse it off. It began to scratch the air frantically, it's tiny claws scratching her face. "Ahh! Ow! Gran! Bad boy! Stop scratching Edward! Ed is just trying to get you clean!"

In the living room Dex, who was trying to go back to sleep, was soon once again disturbed, this time by frantic screaming and yowling. Sitting up in shock, listening in on the chaos that was currently taking place in the bathroom, he chuckled to himself, lying back down as he calmed. "I don't know who to feel more sorry for… Her or the cat…"

-----

Ed, fully clothed and now wearing two new band-aids on her face, walked into her room, plopping Gran on her bed. "You're a bad kitty!" She frowned, waving a finger. "Why did you scratch Edward? That really hurts Edward's feelings…"

"You talking to that dumb cat again?" Dex muttered, standing in the doorway. "Please don't tell me that you seriously plan on keeping that cat… It's bound to have an owner out there that misses it."

"Of course I'm keeping Gran! He was abandoned!" Ed pouted, lying on her bed on her side and cuddling up next to the kitten. "What do you have against cats anyway, you big jerk?"

"They're lazy, useless animals with bad attitudes…" Dex replied, a scowl on his face as he put a hand on his side.

"Kinda reminds Ed of someone she knows…" she said slyly, giving Dex look that said 'yeah, I'm talking to **you**'.

"H-hey… Don't say a word…" Dex glared, gritting his teeth. "And plus, cats look at you funny like they think they're better than you! I hate that!"

"If you're done ranting, it's time to head out." Jet replied, seemingly appearing behind Dex. "Our man is simply named Razor. Know one knows what he looks like, but he's a now infamous hacker. Remember when all the gates around Mars shut down for a few seconds a few months ago? That was him."

"Ooh, a challenge!" Edward's eyes widened slightly in excitement, having not pitted her skills against another hacker in quite some time. She gave Jet a curious look as she tossed Dex a communication device.

"Ed will contact us on those from the Bebop." Jet explained. "While she tries to locate and out-hack Razor, we'll try and find some leads. If we split up, we can contact each other on those things as well. Sorry Ed, looks like you're back to being cooped up on the ship."

"S'okay!" shouted cheerfully, stretching and wiggling like a noodle as she sat in front of her Tomato on her bed. "Edward is still excited! This is like the old days on Bebop-Bebop! To your battle stations!"

-----

"…So you have no idea where Razor might be?" Dez asked, sighing in exasperation. "Not even where he usually hangs out?" He had been searching for the past 2 hours and hadn't made any progress. It was becoming quite frustrating. At this rate, the entire trip would be a waste.

The man in a green suit shook his head. "Sorry. Nobody, or at least no one I know, has ever seen that guy." He shook his head again in disbelief. "It's like he's a damn phantom!"

"THIS IS JUST-- Grr…" Furuously whipping out his communicator, he screamed into it. "Jet! I haven't found shit! What about you?"

-----

Jet, who was in another area all together, raised an eyebrow. He smirked, resisting the urge to laugh at the rookie's impatience and short temper. "Nothing here. I keep getting all these rumors and fake descriptions… Reminds me of the last time I tracked a mysterious hacker…"

-----

"Oh yeah?" Dex asked, interested. "What happened then?" Maybe this _wasn't_ hopeless, that is, if Jet actually _caught_ them last time…

-----

Jet chuckled. "Why don't you try asking Edward?" he replied, giving him a hint.

-----

Dex smirked. "Ah, I see… So, Ed's a pretty good hacker?"

-----

"Perhaps one of the best." Jet replied, scratching his nose. "I really hope this isn't another one of those types of situations again, though… Otherwise, we'll be screwed." Their reserves were on low again and needless to say, Jet was just plain sick of eating cheap instant noodles. He would murder someone before he went through that again.

-----

Back on the Bebop, Edward was fending off an attack from this 'Razor'. Evidentially, every well known cowboy's computer was somehow being hacked into. Of course, Edward was not about to give in so easily. Rapidly switching passwords with a program she recently acquired, she attempted to break through Razor's defenses. The key word was 'attempting'. Whoever this 'Razor' person was, they sure had some damn good defenses! Edward took note of this, wondering what program they used. As she typed and hacked away, she suddenly felt a burning sensation in her goggles. Pulling them away from her face, she screamed in pain as they exploded. Small metal and glass fragments cut up her face a little. "Agh!" Growling, she tossed the goggles fragments away and began hacking the old fashioned way. "I'll show you, damn it!" As she ran through a list of possible passwords, Gran walked up and randomly tapped a few keys. Edward suddenly found herself gaining access to Razor's computer. Staring at Gran incredulously, she smiled. Perhaps it _wasn't _so random. "Nyah-hah! How about getting me into one of Razor's external devices?" Her happy smile quickly became a devious one. "It's payback time…" Ed and Gran teamed up, the former working with what she knew with the latter filling in the gaps. It was an odd team. And the absurdity of such a strategy seemed to be baffling their opponent as well. Razor's defense seemed to be wavering and Edward began to notice that she instinctively was no longer as on her toes about protecting her Tomato. A few clicks later, and both the monitor and keyboard were destroyed. The woman cackled evilly, surprising even herself. "Edward's a bad girl…"

-----

"What a complete and utter waste of time." Dex groaned, slumping on the sofa. "No clues, no leads… We didn't learn a damn thing!" Putting his head in his hands, he growled. "I swear, we come out doing worse every time."

"I managed to beat Razor!" Ed shouted triumphantly, pumping a fist into the air.. "With some help from Gran, of course!"

"Great, so the cat is a hacker…" Dex replied sarcastically. "Why the hell didn't you tell us that you were engaged in a conflict with Razor and you didn't tell us! We could have tracked the IP address to him and busted his ass!"

Pouting, she sighed, lowering her head apologetically. "Edward is sorry…" She had been so excited over her victory, she had forgotten to inform them until they had arrived. Needless to say, she felt very embarrassed.

"Don't worry, Edward…" Jet replied, walking in and sitting down. "I managed to find a little info that made me realize it would have been impossible to catch her."

"Her?…" Dex asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously and putting his hands on his knees. "Don't tell me you fell for her…"

"No!" Jet shouted, crossing his arms. "Razor, or Crystal Romani, was 15 years old… Her parents both died in an accident previously. She soon turned to hacking. She had lost an arm, a leg, and an eye in the accident that took her parents away from her, but her prosthetic limbs didn't hinder her at all."

"So, did you take sympathy on her?" Dex asked, glaring. "If she's over 18, you could get in real trouble if anyone finds out."

Jet shook his head, taking out an old newspaper "She died…" tossing the obituaries on the table, he pointed to her entry. "15 years ago… at the age of 17. No one ever knew that _she _was Razor except for one person… Her ex-boyfriend."

Both Edward and Dex's jaws dropped, staring at the page. "You… you're kidding right?…"

_**Do You Truly Know What's Real and What's Not?**_


	8. Session 8: Black Coffee

Time for another entry. I don't have much to say today, so let's just get things started, shall we? Sorry for the wait, had a run of writer's block and pure, unadulterated laziness.

---Kouji Tamino

-----

**Cowboy Bebop: The Second Session**

It was a cold, wet, rainy day on the Planet Ganymede. The trio was relaxing after a successful bounty hunt. Jet had gone out to spend some of their spoils on equipment and food. Ed was just about finished with some work on her Tomato. Dex lay on the couch, sleeping peacefully. Scarcely moving, save for the occasional 'comfort adjustment' roll or two, he was resting from yesterday, which had been very busy and stressful. His almost heavenly session of slumber was suddenly interrupted, sending him crashing into the ground. Now finding himself upside down with his head on the floor and his feet hanging over the top of the couch, he slowly opened his eyes and found himself face to face with a certain dark-skinned, unorthodox hacker. Groaning in annoyance, he greeted her sarcastically. "Hey there, Ed… What's up?"

Sitting on the floor with her legs crisscrossed, giving him a peeved off look, she huffed, crossing her arms. "Edward is bored!" she whined, frowning sadly. "Jet-person is off shopping and Edward wants Dex-person to do something with her!"

"I'd like to do _something_ with you, all right…" he uttered under his breath, getting a good look at Ed's well tanned thighs. "It involves me, a bed, and your legs wrapped around-- Ow!" He soon found out that Ed had very good ears.

"Naughty Dex-person…" Ed replied with a sly grin, pouting out her lips cutely. "Don't try and hide things from me… If you want to, just ask!"

-----

**Session 8: **_Black Coffee_

Dex stared at Ed for a moment, still upside down. "Are you serious?" He just didn't see Edward as the sensual type. Sure, she dressed the part, but that was just to lure in bounty heads. But god, the way she stretches… He shook his head to clear his mind of such thoughts. "No, no, no… Bad Dex!"

Giggling, Edward explained. "Well, you see… Jet-person doesn't know this, but Edward has slept with tons of girls before…" Smiling devilishly at a stupefied Dex, she continued. "And while I'm still a virgin 'physically', I have made a few guys feel good before… Wanna be my first?"

"Um… Maybe later…" Dex replied uneasily, suddenly getting cold feet. Propping himself back right side up, he shivered. What was wrong with him? He had bedded plenty of other women before, so why did Ed suddenly threaten him? Sure, she was pretty hot… Suddenly, it hit him. Sure, Edward was a little weird, but she was **intelligent** as well. When he had first approached her, he was expecting another one night stand with a horny bimbo. This was simply not the case. That, and until now, Edward had this… innocence about her. That's it. Innocent wisdom. That image of her had completely shattered today. It just… shocked him. There was no way he could sleep with her now. His impression of her changed frequently. What if during their little round, she suddenly became a dominatrix, with leather, whips, ropes and all?

Edward could sense his fear. Smirking cockily, she began to tease him. "What's wrong, Dex-person? Don't think you can handle a night with Radical Edward?" She moaned softly, slowly running a hand down her body and grabbing the zipper of her shorts. Staring at himself lustfully, she panted gently while slowly zipping it down, pushing her shirt up with her other hand. "Dex-person… You know I don't wear panties, right?"

"Ed!" Dex screamed, waving his hands. "Stop! Um…" he sighed. "Look, I don't know why, but I really don't feel comfortable talking about stuff like this with you…"

Pouting, Edward zipped up her pants and straightened up her shirt. "You don't find Edward attractive?"

"No!" Dex replied, his eyes widening. "Ed, you're gorgeous! Any man would give his left nut to be with you!" He scratched the back of his head. "But I dunno, you and me… It just wouldn't seem right for some reason… Wanna do something else?"

"Hm… Like what?" the computer wiz asked curiously, tilting her head. She truly was bored, and felt that if she didn't do something fun soon she would absolutely go mad. "Mad, mad, the milk went bad…"

"Well, it's kind of wet and gloomy out…" Dex began, rubbing his chin. He blushed slightly. This was a stupid idea, but he didn't know what else to do. Swallowing his pride, he finally spoke up. "Wanna make some coffee and just… talk?"

"Hmmm…" the hacker bent backwards, putting her hands on the floor. "Talk about what?"

"Anything!" Dex replied, shrugging.

"Well, okay!" she shouted in agreement. She quickly ran into the kitchen. "I'll go make it! How do you like your coffee?"

"Um, with 1/5 a cup of cream, please…" Dex replied, following her into the room.

-----

"So…" Edward began, mixing the creamer into Dex's coffee. "What do you want to talk about first?"

"How about your past?" Dex asked, catching his mug as it was slid towards him. "Thanks…" As he started to sip his hot drink, he noticed that Ed's expression suddenly became more somber. "Um, hey… What's wrong, Ed?"

"Nothing…" she lied, sitting down in front of him. She sat there for a moment, petting Gran, who had taken up temporary residence on the table. After a few seconds of silence, she sighed heavily. "Well, it's kind of complicated… and sad… I can tell you a little though, if you want to listen…" Dex nodded, scratching the back of his head. She continued. "We once had a dog named Ein… He was something called a data dog. Edward isn't sure what that means, but he was very valuable and very smart. He was probably smarter than Edward!" She paused for a moment to see if Dex would make a sarcastic comment. He didn't, so she smiled appreciatively and continued. "At one point, he and I left the Bebop to follow my father. But on my 18th birthday, I decided to strike out on my own and become a bounty hunter." She suddenly stopped telling her story as she bit her lip. She was obviously heading into painful memories. "Things went well for a while. I had a pretty decent run going solo. But then I made the mistake of taking Ein with me to act as a sort of bloodhound." Tears began to uncontrollably roll down her face. She fought to hold them back to no avail, wiping her face with her arm. "He… he took a bullet for me!" She shouted, dropping her normal speech patterns. "Dex, I killed him!" Sniffling, she stared down at her little kitten, who was licking her hand. She gasped as her partner put a hand over her other one. "Dex-person…"

"You don't have to go on anymore if it's too painful…" He said comfortingly. He glared as she suddenly snorted. "Hey, what's so funny?"

"Dex-person, you can be _such_ a geek sometimes…" She replied, wiping her face. "If those are the same lines you make when trying to seduce women, it's a miracle that you _ever_ got laid!" Calming down, she gave him a warm smile. "But thanks, anyways. It was sweet of you to try and say something comforting… Even if it was cheesy as all hell."

"Well damn!" Dex shouted, pounding his fist on the table and scaring Gran. The kitten scurried closer to Edward. "That's the last time _I'm_ being nice!"

"Aww, don't be a hard-ass, Dex-person!" Ed exclaimed, waving her hands playfully. Picking up the frightened kitten, she snuggled it against her chest, glaring at Dex. "So, what about you?" She asked, putting Gran on the floor and resting her head on her hands, elbows on the table. "What's your story? What was with those bozos a few weeks back?"

"Well you see, those two guys, before they revealed their true colors, were like brothers to me. We did everything together." Growling, he took another sip of coffee before slamming it on the table. "So imagine my shock when the assholes turned out to be murderous psycho bastards."

"You poor baby…" Edward frowned, reaching over the table and patting him on the head. Pulling her arm back, she sighed, taking a sip of coffee. "What miserable lives we lead…" She sighed again, lowering her head. "Edward thinks we are cursed…"

"I suppose so…" the man chuckled in agreement. Starring at Ed's coffee for a moment, he raised an eyebrow. "You drink your coffee black?" He would have thought that someone like Edward would have sugar and cream up the wazoo.

Shrugging, she took another sip. "That's why you shouldn't make assumptions about someone based on first impression…" Wait, why was he even asking? "You never seen me drink coffee before?" Strange, after all the time they've spent together…

"No, not… really…" Dex said slowly, scratching the tip of his nose. "I'm not really a morning person, so I don't drink coffee much." Smirking, he pointed at her. "You, however, are already bouncing, crawling, and rolling all over the ship at 6 in the morning!"

"6:45, actually…" Edward said slyly, correcting him. "So it's actually a bit closer to 7."

"Hey, I'm home!" Jet shouted from the living quarters. "What's that I smell?" Walking into the kitchen, he smiled. "Ah, coffee! That sounds good on a rainy day." Walking over to the coffee machine, he sighed in a low tone. "What a day…" He set the bags of things he bought on the counter, getting out a coffee mug and getting himself a cup. "So, what have you two been up to since I left?" He asked, taking a drink of his coffee.

"Oh, just talking…" Edward replied, picking up Gran and snuggling him against her face. "Feel free to join us, if you wish." She down the rest of her coffee with a smile. "Ah! Nothing like a warm drink on a cold, wet day!"

"Nah, I won't bore you kids with my old man stories." He said jokingly, perhaps embracing his middle age status.

"Aw, come on, Pops!" Dex shouted jokingly. "Someone as old as you must have lots of experience and tales to tell."

Jet winced, confirming that he had _not _completely accepted truly getting old. "Don't call me Pops, damn it…" Shaking his head, he smiled. "All right fine. I'll tell you something about my past…" Holding up his arm, he smirked. "Know how I got this?" He waited for a moment. "Nope? Well, I was betrayed by my partner. Lost an arm, and I soon quit the ISSP because of all the corruption."

"You're telling me! You know what I saw one night, just a few days before I met up with you guys? 2 cops with a drug dealer, and they were _not_ in the middle of a sting operation!"

"That's just shameful…" Jet muttered, rubbing his temples with a scowl on his face. "I'm so glad I left that damn place when I did. Just gets worse and worse every year." His expression soon softened, a somewhat saddened look on his face.

"Poor Jet-person…" Ed said sympathetically. "His entire view of the justice system, shattered." Standing up from her seat, she took her mug and put it in the dishwasher. "Well, I'm off. If you need me, I'll be playing with Gran or napping in my room." And with that, she retreated to her bedroom.

"Keep hanging tough, man…" Dex said in a sincere tone, patting the older man on the back. He put his own mug away and went off to continue his nap. How he was ever going to get back to sleep after the caffeine, we'll never know. This left Jet, by his lonesome, staring at his mug with a downcast expression. After almost a minute of thought, he gulped down his coffee, put it away, and went on to unload the groceries and supplies.

_**One Lump Or Two?**_


	9. Session 9: Devil Went Down to Venus

Howdy. It's been a while. What was the deal with the last chapter? It was a mix of writer's block, a chapter revealing a few new things about Edward, and an idea I had that didn't turn out as well as I thought it would. Hopefully, this chapter will make up for it. Here we have another 'Ballad of Fallen Angels' type session, if you know what I mean… A little bit of warning, this one has a few of the disturbing moments that I've recently made my trademark.

---Kouji Tamino

-----

**Cowboy Bebop: The Second Session**

In a dark, dimly lit room of an underground shelter on Earth, a woman with very short, spiky black hair stared lazily at her computer screen, with her ice blue eyes, dressed in a black bikini top and slightly tattered baggy jeans. The room she sat in was quite sloppy, the floors covered in chip bags, soda and beer cans, and cigarette butts. The room smelled heavily of tobacco and old clothes, which were also strewn all around. She scrolled through the list of IP addresses, searching intently for just the right one. An annoyed scowl was on her face, as the job was becoming quite tedious. She just wished she could go and strangle that bitch and just end it all. She shook her head, licking her lips in anticipation. That would be **much** too easy of an end to her… She wanted to have a little fun with her first. She chuckled in her sultry voice as she found what she was looking for, her angry expression turning into a twisted smile. "…Sin found it."

-----

"Ooh… Pretty…" Edward cooed, staring up at the sky as spores from the planet's terra-forming plants fell down from the sky. She walked backwards as she took the sight in, nearly bumping into Dex. "Whoops!" she giggled, stepping forward. "Sorry!"

Chuckling, Jet shook his head as he watched Ed. "Careful, Edward, or you might go blind", he replied, jokingly. He knew that Edward was in no danger of 'Venus Sickness', as they had made several trips to Venus before. For Dex, however, this was his first trip, and he was quite confused by Jet's joke.

Ignoring his confusion for the moment, he nudged the female member of the Bebop a bit. "Hey Ed, when we get back to the Bebop, could you teach me some of those crazy Jet Li moves?" He made random hand gestures and kicking motions to emphasize .

"You mean _Bruce Lee_"? Edward asked in amusement, laughing a bit. "And it's called Jeet Kun Do…" Smiling, she hopped on his back. "Of course Ed'll teach you, Dex-person! Although Edward is afraid that she can't teach you much… Ed learned most of what Ed knows from watching Spike-person and weaseling info out of him!" Giggling, she hopped off after the man made several failed attempts to get her off of him. "But don't worry! Edward will teach Dex-person all the basics at least!"

"All right, kiddies." Jet said with a smirk. "We're down here to collect our fee from that last hunt." Glancing toward Ed, he raised an eyebrow. "He _is_ still secure, right?" He'd be damned if they lost this one, especially after coming this far.

Conking herself on the head repeatedly, she ran back into the Bebop and came back a few moments later, dragging along a tied-up and struggling man, she saluted her much older comrade. "Everyone is here and accounted for!"

"Mew!" called Gran, crawling towards the woman.

"Whoops!" Edward shouted. "Sorry! Now everyone's here!"

-----

**Session 9: **_Devil Went Down to Venus_

Dex yawned as he caught a card containing his share of the bounty head, a third of a million wulong. "Just another day in the life of a cowboy…" Sighing, he stared at his card solemnly. "But these small bounty heads are gonna kill me…" he whined, scratching his head.

"If you're gonna complain, don't come anymore." Jet growled in annoyance, one eye open. "Me and Ed are perfectly satisfied with the fact that we _can_ get paid in these hard times, so one less mouth to feed would make us perfectly happy."

"Well whatever…" Dex muttered, seemingly not affected by Jet's words at all. "Let's get back to the ship so Ed can teach me some of those kick-ass moves!"

"Yay!" Ed shouted, doing cartwheels towards the ship as her other companions walked normally. "Edward has a pupil!" Giggling excitedly, she stopped in front of Dex. "You may call Edward 'sensei', Dex-person!"

Slowly glancing toward Jet, the younger man gave him an expression that said 'What in the world have I gotten myself into?'. The older man simply shrugged, smirking. "Have fun, 'young grasshopper'…" He chuckled, trying to hold back a much louder, much more obnoxious laugh. Putting his hands behind his head, he began to walk at a quicker pace, leaving a befuddled Dex to the devices of his new teacher.

Smiling, Edward held up the black and white kitten. "Dex-person, your first assignment is to give Gran a kiss!" she shouted jokingly. "Come on, lover-boy, pucker up!"

Dex's jaw dropped. "N-no way!" he shouted, backing away. Edward stepped forward, pushing the feline towards his face. "You can't seriously expect to do that, do you? Keep that thing away!" He burst into a run, Ed chasing him around. As Jet watched on in amusement. "Damn it, Jet! Help me out here!"

Laughing with a hand on his forehead, Jet shook his head. "No can do! You should be able to handle this on your own, right?" His expression became playfully devious. "Beside, I wouldn't want to interfere in your 'training'…"

-----

A little while later, on the Bebop, Edward finally began giving Dex a few fighting pointers. Dex wore a white 'wife-beater' a-shirt and blue sweats, while Ed of course, wore the usual. "Dex-person, before we begin, I would like you to try and hit Edward…" she replied, giving him a grin as she got into the familiar stance she often saw Spike use.

"Um, I really don't think this is such a good idea anymore, Edward…" Dex replied, crossing his arms. "No offense to you, I know you are a very good fighter, but I have a strict 'no striking women' policy."

Pouting, the redhead stuck out her tongue. "Ew, how sexist. Go ahead, Dex-person, try and hit me!" Smirking, she began to hop from foot to foot. "I think you'll find it quite hard to do so…"

Sighing, Dex reluctantly gave in to humor her for a bit. He wouldn't actually try and hit her though, just try and get a soft 'fake' punch in. As he made his attack, however, he found that it difficult to even accomplish _that_. "Wh-what the hell!"

Dodging Dex's punches with eases, Edward chuckled. "Not so easy, is it? Edward is water!"

"What?" Dex asked, stopping as he raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"Dex-person, you have to learn how to flow like the water does!" Edward explained, moving around fluidly to prove her point. Of course, already having a very flexible body helped. Realizing this, she giggled. "Of course, Edward can't really expect you to be able to move quite _this_ much like water…" It was with that comment, that the power suddenly went out, the Bebop becoming almost pitch black. "Whoops! Don't worry, Edward will fix everything!" With that, she leapt out of the room they had been training in, Dex soon following.

As he entered the living room, he bumped into Jet. "Ow! Sorry… Where the hell did Ed go?"

"Off to fix the power." Jet said with a snort. "She's done it so many times, she can easily navigate the dark hallways. It's amazing, really…" As they talked, an invisible gas seeped through the air vents, making the two men extremely drowsy. They both fell to the floor in a heap, two men in gasmasks popping out from their hiding places. They wasted no time in tying the men up.

-----

Meanwhile, Edward was wandering in the halls, feeling her way around for the door to the room where the power was controlled. She yelped as she suddenly pricked her finger on something, quickly pulling her finger back and sucking on it. She could taste the drop of blood that had formed there. Closing her eyes, she quickly lost consciousness.

-----

As Jet and Dex awoke, they found themselves restrained and weakened from the gas in their system, staring up at two figures that Jet did not recognize, but whom Dex knew quite well. "What the hell are you two doing here?" he asked angrily. "And where's Edward? I swear, if you bastards--"

"Hey, calm down…" Lance replied, a sneer on his face. "Our boss is taking care of her…" Chuckling lecherously, he continued. "…Very good care of her…"

Growling, Jet struggled to get free. He was making no progress at all, much to his surprise. "What in the--"

"Oh, right…" Lance began, chuckling cruelly. "We know about your cybernetic arm, so we used a special rope that's been bred with metal to make it stronger. You won't be getting out of that."

Grunting, Drake stared down at Jet. "A little old to be playin' cowboy, don't you think, old man?" He had never seen this guy before. Must've not gotten involved in the last confrontation.

"I'm younger than I look!" The older man shouted in annoyance. "Can still kick _your_ ass, you son of a bitch…" He groaned as he was given a kick to the side for that comment.

Picking up Gran, Lance smirked at the kitten. "I hate cats…" Tossing the kitten into a burlap sack, he tied it closed and tossed it in a corner. He looked to Dex smugly, who could only glare at him.

-----

Edward awoke, slowly opening her eyes. "…Where is Edward?" She soon discovered that her arms and legs were tied to something, and she was lying down on the floor of the utility room with her limbs being stretched out. "Is anyone there?" She gasped as she suddenly felt a blade on her cheek, the sharp end dangerously grazing against her skin.

"It's been so long, Edward… I can't really see you clearly, but I still recognize those smooth legs…" The mysterious figure, who was a woman, allowed her fingers to brush against the other girl's thigh. Speaking in a deep, seductive voice, she continued to molest Edward as she named off body parts. "…those soft lips, that neck…" Using her free hand, she gently squeezed the neck of the redhead. Reaching down, she grabbed Edward's left breast and squeezed. "…and your wonderful, all natural breasts." She chuckled deep within her throat as her victim squirmed wildly. "Careful, my dear…" she warned, the knife still planted against Ed's cheek. "We wouldn't want you to--" She raised an eyebrow as the struggling caused Edward to cut herself on the blade. Standing up, the woman sighed. "Now didn't I warn you?"

"Please…" Ed pleaded, wincing in pain from the cut. The ropes were also burning her ankles and wrists. If she was about to die, this would be a horrible way to do so. "Tell Edward who you are… She wants to know why you are doing this."

The woman pouted. "You really don't know who I am?" Turning back on the power, she smiled as the lights came on. It was the woman who had been plotting earlier. "Recognize me now, honey?"

Edward's eyes widened in shock. "S-Sin? Is that really you?" Deep feelings of fear arose within her. "What do you want?" Blood from the cut on her cheek was flowing down her face. It wasn't deep, but it was bleeding just the same.

Shaking her head, Sin got back on her knees, leaning in toward Edward's face. "Now look what you've done… You've ruined your lovely face." Closing her eyes, she leaned in closer and licked Ed's cheek free of blood, her mouth lingering over the cut to suck some more of the crimson body fluid out. "Mmm… I hope it doesn't scar your perfect face…" Her sultry tone suddenly became vicious, her voice turning into a low hiss. "I want to see the look on your unscratched face as your body lies broken and lifeless on the ground." Kissing Edward on the lips, the other woman too shocked to resist, she laughed. "So stay safe until that day comes, love…" Putting a cloth doused in an chloroform on Ed's face, she watched as she lost consciousness again.

-----

When Edward awoke, she was no longer restrained. Standing up she gasped. "I hope Dex-person and Jet-person are okay!" Quickly running down the hallway, she panted heavily, hoping for dear life that her friends hadn't been harmed. As she entered the living room, she found Jet and Dex tied up, but for the most part, they were safe. "Oh, thank goodness…" she began, holding back her tears. "…I'm so glad…"

-----

Now untied, Jet and Dex checked up on Ed. "Are you alright?" Jet asked, concern on his face. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he stared at the cut on her face. "You okay, Edward?"

"She's back… someone who feels that Edward betrayed them has returned…" Falling to her hands and knees, she burst out crying. "Why do these things keep happening to me? I can't…" Looking up at Jet, she answered his question. "No, I'm not okay… Sin wants to kill me… And I don't know if I'll be prepared to take her…"

"So, the people from our past have allied themselves with one another, huh?" Dex replied, frowning. "This is just great. As if we didn't have enough problems."

Ed whimpered cutely. "Wait, Lance-person and Drake-person are back, too? Awww…" she curled up on the floor, wrapping her arms around herself. "…Where's Gran?…"

"Shit!" Dex exclaimed. "I forgot!" Running over to the burlap sack, Dex opened it up and pulled put Gran, who had passed out due to lack of oxygen. "Those bastards…" he muttered, handing the small creature to Ed. "I'm sorry…"

Staring down at her little kitten sadly, Edward hugged it against her cheek. "I think he'll be okay… He just needs rest." Setting him down on the couch, Edward began to shake violently. Her pupils dilated as she snarled, punching a dent into the wall to her right. "Someone's gonna pay… Edward's pissed!" Jet and Dex stared on in shock, their jaws dropping.

_**Hell Hath No Fury…**_


End file.
